


The Mysto Remix

by Angel_Negra



Category: Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue, Power Rangers Mystic Force, Power Rangers Ninja Storm, Power Rangers Time Force
Genre: Action/Adventure, F/F, M/M, thelittlebang
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-29
Updated: 2011-10-29
Packaged: 2017-10-25 01:37:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 22,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/270287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angel_Negra/pseuds/Angel_Negra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Vida expected that her life would change outside of Briarwood, but she sure never saw this coming.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Mysto Remix

**Author's Note:**

> Written for thelittlebang challenge on Dreamwidth. Thanks to all of my betas: Aoife, Arrow, Cally, Meg and Ryuutchi.
> 
> Now with bonus [Fanmix](http://thelittlebang.dreamwidth.org/6632.html) by Ryuutchi, check it out, it rocks. :D

The day Nick comes home to Briarwood, the heat lays over the town thick and heavy, pressing everyone down mercilessly. Vida foregoes her seat at the turntable to claim one of the two loungers. She lolls her head to the side, staring absently at Xander as she listens to the Rock Porium's air conditioner wage a losing battle against the heat.

Madison comes out of the office and makes a face at both her and Xander when they look at her. "I have no idea how to make that hunk of junk make colder air," she says, throwing her hands up defeat. "Even with magic."

Chip slogs up behind her, wearing a pith hat on his head. "I have been traversing the mighty deserts for days. I'm losing hope that I shall ever find the great treasure." Xander chuckles softly, holding out a water bottle to Chip. "At last!" cries Chip. "I have reached the oasis!"

"Is there room for one more?" asks Nick, his voice sounding as dry and tired as he looks. He's stopped just inside the door, gaze locked onto the four of them.

Maddie leads the charge, hugging Nick close and tight. He rests his chin on her shoulder, closing his eyes and hugging back. Without opening his eyes, he reaches out a hand to take Chip's. Chip just hugs both of them, rather than trying to free Nick from Maddie. Vida likes that idea and joins in from the other side and then feels Xander doing his best to just hug all four of them.

Then Toby comes out to protest the open door and it sets off more rounds of greetings. They even leave the cool of the store to follow Nick to Rootcore for Clare and Daggeron. The bright joy of having everyone back together doesn't ease the heat, but it makes it more bearable.

*

Things have more or less settled by the time Nick's been home for a couple of days. The heat hasn't eased much, and Chip's started asking about rain spells and dances. Nick thinks they should just invite the Snow Prince for a visit. Maddie and Clare have teamed up on a quest to find the one normal popsicle flavour that Chip will like without wanting to add it to his pizza. Vida just takes over the DJ table at the Rock Porium and spends her shifts watching Xander run the floor.

Their lives have become this kind of quiet now. No monsters to fight, no new spells in urgent need of learning; they'd even graduated high school a few weeks back. Nothing to do but be normal, average teenagers. Boring as hell.

They wind up hanging out at the Rock Porium one night. Xander and Vida had to close, Maddie stayed to keep them company - which meant Nick stayed to keep her company. Chip didn't really seem to have a reason to be there, wandering around and checking under the shelves. Nick had watched this for about ten minutes before joining him. Vida hadn't heard him ask Chip about what had gotten lost though.

Maddie sighs, idly flipping through Vida's stack of potential records for tomorrow. "Do you guys ever feel... stuck?" she asks, keeping her gaze on the records.

"Stuck how?" asked Xander, dropping down onto one of the lobby chairs.

Maddie shrugs. "I dunno, like we're in some kind of holding pattern."

Chip says something while halfway under a shelf. Vida squints at the one bit of shoe she can see, trying to make sense of the muffled words. "What?" she says just as Nick slides out from under a different shelf and turns to Chip, asking, "That's what we're looking for?" in a surprised tone.

Xander sits up, "Wait, what?"

Chip says something muffled again. Nick rolls his eyes, grabs Chip's ankles and pulls. Chip slides out from under the shelf, still talking, "-or maybe a rabbit hole to a secret dimension."

"And then we just drop in and save the day, right?," finishes Nick, smiling fondly at Chip.

"So the answer is to just hunt down a new quest?" Xander says skeptically, sitting back. "No offence, mate, but I'm not really ready to jump back into battling to protect the innocent."

"So what do you want to do?" asks Vida, coming over and flopping down in the other chair.

Xander shrugs. "It'd be nice to actually learn what we're actually saying when we do magic," he says. "I feel like I'm reciting bloody multiplication tables without really understanding how the numbers add up."

"I wonder if other Ranger powers work like ours," Maddie says suddenly, looking up.

"Probably more like Daggeron's powers," says Nick, leaning back against the shelf.

"But where would they get the spell cards?" asks Maddie.

Vida grins. "Maybe they sell them in decks, like those battle cards Chip was collecting in Grade 9."

"That'd be so cool!" enthuses Chip, shifting so he's sitting cross-legged on the floor.

"On the other hand," says Xander slowly, "could you imagine?" He sits up straighter and his voice takes on a deeper tone. "Power of the Mystic Drill, Red Space Ranger!"

Vida bursts into giggles with the rest of them. "Didn't a couple of teams have fire trucks?" she asks.

Nick nods solemnly. "Ah, the great and wise Trucks of Fire. Mom said they used to live in the caves near volcanoes, back in the day."

Maddie giggles harder, sliding down in her seat a bit. "Race cars!' she manages to gasp out.

"Oh! They hang out with the sea turtles of the Mystic Desert!" chirps Chip. Then they're all laughing too hard to talk.

Eventually, Vida and Xander kick the others out, mainly because Toby's trying to teach the new crew good habits and it works better when his senior staff play by the rules too. Vida would complain, but she and Xander are able to finish up the final details faster when it's just the two of them.

Xander's sealing up the last of the sales for the deposit when Vida comes back from dumping the trash. He hesitates for a second, biting his lip. "You feel it too, don't you?" he asks.

"What?" she eyes him curiously. "Maddie's thing about being stuck?"

He nods, tossing the deposit envelope onto the counter. "You have to admit, it would be nice to be somewhere new."

Vida smiles humourlessly. "Where no one's putting out bulletins on who we date," she finishes. They don't talk about it much around the others; Nick and Maddie have each other and Chip doesn't really seem to notice anything sexual related. But well, most people know Vida's gay - she's enough of a tomboy that it gets assumed already. Xander's not really out, he gets enough flack for being different; Vida gets why he doesn't want to add more to it.

The other three know; it's hard to really keep secrets when you're melded together as a giant warrior for good. Nick's been trying to subtly get Xander to say it out loud to the rest of them though; he's a firm believer in the power of words. Which, of course, is hardly a new concept to Xander. Maddie says that's probably why he won't say it yet.

Vida looks over at Xander, watching him stare down at the counter. "What if we did a spell?"

He blinks. "Like a teleportation spell?" he asks in confusion.

"Like a guide," she says. "We're stuck and we don't know how to get out, right?"

Xander turns to face her, resting his hip against the counter. He's looking past her, eyes distant as he thinks it over. "We haven't really learned anything like that."

"So?" She pokes him in the chest lightly. "You're the guy who wants to study spell words. Find us some."

"I'll... Yeah, maybe," he says softly, smiling slightly.

Vida grins.

*

Xander spends most of the next few weeks between Rootcore and the library. He starts accumulating papers, even going so far as to carry around his old school backpack. It's Vida, though, who winds up explaining the plan to the others. They all love it and help out when they can.

Maddie covers for Xander at work and uses her magic sister powers to somehow con Vida into this too. Chip takes to following Xander around, replacing pens, adding paper and sneaking Maddie-approved sandwiches and drinks to him. Nick, on the other hand, gets very secretive and keeps dragging Clare off for something that he refuses to tell the rest of them about.

Then one day, Xander comes into the Rock Porium grinning and Vida knows that he's got it. He saunters over to the DJ booth and points at her triumphantly. "Ms. Rocca, I want to thank you for volunteering to close tonight," he says, eyes shining.

Vida considers chucking a CD at him, just to make her point. "It's ten in the morning," she grouses. "You'd better have someone covering some of this shift."

"Well, we owe-"

"We?" she says, raising her eyebrows at him.

Xander rolls his eyes. "Fine, don't be a team player. I owe LeeLee something big, sparkly, and expensive, but yes. You may go home now and make amazing music or plot pranks on Nick until closing."

"I keep telling you guys the shirt thing was an accident," she grumbles, getting up.

Xander just laughs and goes to pester Mort about the front window display.

*

Vida flops onto one of the chairs, taking the stack of possible CDs for her music from Chip. Nick settles deeper into the other chair and tugs Maddie down to sit in his lap. Then the four of them look to Xander expectantly as he comes over from locking the door.

"Well?" asks Maddie.

Xander grins and holds out a piece of paper triumphantly. Chip takes it, reading it out loud. "Rego recti rectum zoi llwybr," he says, careful to keep the magical intent out of it.

"We'll have to say it all together," explains Xander. "There's a few herbs we should have burning, and it should work."

"Work how?" asks Maddie curiously.

Xander shrugs. "I'm not entirely sure," he says. "I think we should get a glow that shows us the way."

"What happens if we have different paths for each of us?" Vida sets the CDs down by her chair. "I mean, we already know we want to do different things."

"We should each get our own glow," says Xander, pulling out a well-worn notebook.

"Like our own personal fairies?" Chip grins. "Cool!"

Maddie glances around at the rest of them. "And then we just go our own separate ways?" she asks, frowning.

"Actually," says Nick, "I've been thinking about that." He sits up a bit, hugging Maddie closer. "I was thinking about how much I missed you guys on the road, and how the phone calls don't really cut it."

Vida watches him curiously as he hesitates. Xander leans in a bit to catch Nick's gaze. "We missed you too, mate."

"Well, you know how Mom could tell us stories of the past and kind of share the memories with us?"

Vida nods along with Chip. Nick shifts Maddie a bit and pulls out a much crumpled piece of paper. "Well, then I got to thinking about how we shared the Megazord's body and there's this really old spell..." He holds out the paper and Vida grabs it before Chip can.

"Somnio domatio," she reads.

Xander blinks in confusion. "Dream... room?" he translates. "I don't-"

"We make a kind of... secret room. It'll only work because we've already melded together so much."

"But," Maddie wrinkles her nose in confusion, "don't we need dreams?"

Nick nods. "We'll still have them, but it's kind of like a section of it is just us, and the dreams go on around us."

"Like an extra room in our minds!" says Chip, grinning.

Vida glances around the store. "So like our hang out here," Vida says. She thinks she gets it now.

"Yeah," says Nick with a smile. "Even if we're in different dimensions, we just have to be sleeping at the same time as someone else."

Xander laughs. "All right then. We should plan for some magic."

"We should do the dream spell first," says Maddie. "That way we can test it."

"Do we need anything else for it?" Chip asks. Nick shakes his head.

Vida shrugs and pulls out her phone, flipping the wand out and waggling it in the air. The others quickly pull theirs out and they all take a deep breath. As one they say, "Somnio domatio." and the magic swirls out and around them in a small storm of colours. Vida smiles as she feels the magic settle into her bones.

"We all have the day off tomorrow, right?" asks Maddie quietly. "We should do Xander's spell then."

After the chorus of agreements, Xander claps his hands and straightens up. "On that note, I'm off to get the right herbs. Night!"

Vida watches him go, with Chip hurry after him and talking about stopping for food. She smiles and gathers up the CDs, flipping through them as she wanders towards her booth. The buzz in her bones isn't solely from the spell they just did. She can feel the changes coming and the part of her that is the wind is laughing with joy.

*

Vida opens her eyes to find herself in the Megazord cockpit. She blinks in confusion and quickly glances down at her body. She's not morphed. Suddenly, Chip pops into being beside her and looks around in surprise. Then he grins. "Hey! The spell worked!"

"Oh yeah," says Vida in realization. "Hey, that means we're dreaming." She shares a grin with Chip at that.

Xander's suddenly there and he blinks in confusion. Then he spots Vida and Chip and his face clears. "I wonder if we can remodel," he says as he saunters up to them.

"I think so," says Nick from behind them.

"Where's Maddie?" asks Chip.

There's a long minute where they all look around the open room for her. She suddenly pops into being right in front of Vida and lets out a startled yelp. Vida rolls her eyes. "Stop staying up so late to edit your camera footage," she nags.

Maddie wrinkles her nose in confusion. "Wha- Oh. Hey, it worked! Wait, why does it look like our cockpit?"

"Probably because we're all familiar with it," says Xander, resting his hands on his hips.

"We should have window walls," says Chip.

"Window walls?" Vida asks.

"You know, walls made of glass. So we can see our dreams!" As Chip says it, the walls slowly fade and take on a glassy shine. The landscape outside is a crazy tumble of strange and familiar things. Vida watches as a hairy caveman in a tutu charges up to the glass and shakes a rubber chicken at them before chasing off after a pair of blue bunnies.

Xander snorts. "Okay, that was totally from Chip's brain," he declares.

"Was not!" says Chip.

"We should have something to sit on," says Maddie.

"Bean bags!" says Vida, watching as five bean bag chairs grow out of the black floor.

"And we each get our own colour," Nick adds; the bags shift accordingly.

They spend the next few hours redecorating, chatting and experimenting. All the while, their subconscious dreams swirl around outside the walls in a constant riot of shifting images and colours. Then Maddie suddenly yelps and vanishes, leaving an echoing thud in Vida's ears.

Vida wakes up with a start and flings herself out of bed, scrambling across the hall to Maddie's room. She comes in as Maddie is slowly sitting up on the floor, looking sleepy, mussed and a bit sheepish. "I fell asleep in my chair," she says, rubbing at the back of her neck.

Flipping open her phone, Vida laughs at her while she calls the guys to tell them what happened.

*

They pick a clearing in the woods for Xander's spell; far enough from the villages that the burning herbs won't disturb anyone. Xander spends a few moments fussing with all the details before sitting down in the circle they'd formed. "It's not going to have long lasting effects," he says, looking around the circle at them. "It should just give us the first major step, the rest is still up to us."

"It wouldn't be much fun if we knew everything that was coming any ways," says Nick, flipping his wand open and grinning.

Xander grins back and opens his own wand. He pauses while Maddie, Chip and Vida do the same. "Ready?" He takes a deep breath. "Okay, lightning strikes the ground, the ground heats to fire, fire draws air, air moves water and water carries lightning." He nods to Chip. "You start, and we go five times, one for each of us." He waits for their nods of agreement. "Right." He nods to Chip again.

"Rego recti rectum zoi llwybr," says Chip. Then Xander repeats it, then Nick, then Vida, and finally Maddie.

There's a sizzle of connection and Vida can see it in her mind's eye. Like the way lightning darts through the clouds, when it picks it's moments to flow through the air and when it rushes into the ground and over water. It all flashes through her mind in the moment between Maddie finishing the words and Chip taking a breath.

And Chip says the words. And they cycle around again.

This time, Vida sees the earth. The complex networks of roots and the veins of minerals. How the sands shift in the wind and where rocks tumble through rivers and how lava flows through the crack and when the metals conduct electricity and sands solidify to glass.

Chip starts it again.

Fire now. The way it clings and feeds on woods and grasses; how air builds it up and pushes it along. Lava meshing with the water, making steam and earth. And lightning creates it and lets it grow.

Chip's voice shakes a bit with the building power.

Air is everywhere. Where it bends around rocks or pushes them around and how it encourages infernos. And moves water, through storms and clouds and how it bends and pops around the thunder and lightning.

Chip says it one last time.

And finally there's the water. How it flows and moulds the rocks and ground. How it soothes the fires. And how it flies and dances through the winds. And how it takes hold of lightning and sends the power of it out.

There's a snap and Vida kind of jolts in her body, feeling the rush of the magic circling around them. It whirls up quickly in a spiral of light and then settles onto them, gentle as a snowfall.

"Woah," says Chip softly. Vida nods.

"It's done," Xander says, glancing at the containers that held the burning herbs. There's nothing but wisps of smoke and ash left in them.

"Now what?" asks Nick, closing his wand up.

"Now we go back to work and start looking for what we want to do," Xander says. He glances at Vida and smiles. She smiles back, feeling the promise of freedom dancing around her now.

*

Vida comes into work the next day, humming. They'd actually spent the night watching their dreams chase around the windows of the dream room. It gave her an idea for a new remix and she's been chasing the rhythm of it since she woke up. Xander's sitting at the till, flipping though a stack of glossy brochures. She leans against the counter and flicks the edge of one. "What's all this?"

"Huh?" Xander glances up in surprise. "Oh, hey Vee."

"He's had his nose stuck in them all morning," says LeeLee as she bustles up, holding a stack of vinyl. "I even had to do most of the set up myself." She purses her lips in annoyance.

Xander gives her a brilliant smile. "And that's why you're so awesome, LeeLee," he says. "In fact, I've been trying to talk Toby into promoting you."

LeeLee straightens up, staring at him in shock. "Promotion?" she squeaks. A grin breaks out on her face. "You are the best!" She pecks him on the cheek, then darts off to put away her pile of records.

Vida raises her eyebrows at Xander. He shrugs easily. "What? It's not like she didn't earn it. She practically ran the place when we were out fighting evil."

"Okay, good point," Vida says. "But this isn't exactly Music Mart. Toby's not going to be able to handle that many managers."

"I know," says Xander, sliding one of the brochures towards Vida so she can see the title of Turtle Cove University on it. "But when I was doing all that research for the spell? I got to talking to one of the librarians. And so I was thinking about maybe taking some courses- You know we're actually using three different languages when we do magic?"

Vida shakes her head, she hadn't known that. "Any fairies glowing over them yet?"

"No." Xander sighs in frustration. "I'm wondering if it just takes a while to kick in."

Vida pats his arm sympathetically and turns to go clock in, when she suddenly skids a bit on something. She bends down and picks up another of Xander's brochures, this one for the University of Mariner Bay. "Hey, you dropped one," she says with a smirk.

Xander doesn't take it though, just stares at it in shock. "Vee?" he says slowly. "Are you doing that?"

"Doing what?" she asks, wrinkling her nose in confusion.

"Making it glow."

Vida's eyes widen in surprise and she actually checks the brochure again, even though it looked normal when she picked it up. It looks like a regular old university brochure, though a bit grimy and crumpled. "Not me." She grins and drops it on the counter. "Guess LeeLee's promotion is in the bag after all."

Then Chip comes barrelling in, panting hard. "Daggeron's glowing!" he announces, leaning on Vida's shoulder while he catches his breath. "I think I'm going to be a knight. Oh, maybe I could be a mystical guardian of treasure!"

"You'd probably have more fun as a knight," says Xander as he carefully smoothes out the Mariner Bay brochure.

Vida chuckles, shifts Chip so he's leaning onto the counter and goes to clock in. Well, at least they knew the spell worked now. She wonders just what would glow for her and if she'll actually know what it means when it happens.

*

It's quiet for a few days after that. Daggeron was rather excited to take Chip on officially and Chip would flicker in and out of the dream room at night, his exhaustion from training warring with his excitement that there was training in the first place. Xander carefully filled out the application for university and had a few meetings with Toby.

Then Maddie comes into Vida's room and sits on the bed. She's clutching the morning mail tightly to her chest. Vida puts down her possible dyes for the week - she's torn between blue and red - and flops down beside her sister. When Maddie doesn't say anything, Vida starts poking her elbow softly, using random patterns because Maddie hates that the most.

Maddie gives her a dirty look. "You know I hate it when you do that."

"So tell me what's wrong and I'll stop," Vida shoots back, not even pausing in her poking.

Sighing, Maddie says, "Okay, remember all that footage I got of us morphed?"

Vida nods. "You sent it in to that weird contest."

"It's not a contest," says Maddie with a huff. "It's a study by BioLabs."

"Whatever." Vida rolls her eyes.

"They were looking for observations of other Rangers. And you know how I always wind up narrating things. Well... They kind of want to hire me."

Vida sits up. "Really?"

"Not, like, as an actual scientist. But I would be helping with research and they have some kind of deal with the science programs at the college nearby. It would be a scholarship deal and I could get a closer look at how the powers work and-" Maddie breaks off with a shrug, fingering an envelope.

"And the letter's glowing," finishes Vida, grinning. "That's awesome, sis!" She wraps Maddie up into a tight hug.

*

Vida gets caught up in a new CD and makes it to the dream room last, strands of music following her in and taking shape in the room. Pink ribbons swirl around her head while green and purple balls bounce a bass rhythm across the floor.

"Cool," says Chip, grinning.

"But can you mix it?" asks Xander curiously.

Vida bites her lip and swirls her index finger into one of the ribbons, pulling it off its orbit and fluttering it into a new pattern. The echoes of music change as she does, taking a deeper tone.

Maddie laughs in wonder.

"Oh!" says Nick, face lighting up. "Be right back." He flickers out of the room. Vida tries to snag the bouncing balls with her captured ribbon. They hiccup and tremble and the bass line's beat picks up some quick squeaks.

Nick flickers back into the room, followed by a stream of multi-coloured fireworks and tiny balls of blue light dancing along a new melody coming from Nick's room.

Vida grins, flicking out her ribbon of sound and twisting it into the high, wispy sounds of the balls of light. Vida starts building a melding of the two songs, and before she knows it, the room is filled with light and sound, bass balls bounding off fireworks, balls of light dancing around and teasing out little streams of tripping light from the others when they laugh in delight. The ribbons are expanding and swirling, twisting around everything.

It's the best song Vida's ever made.

*

She wakes up the next morning, still humming, seeing the songs dancing in her mind's eye. It's with her through breakfast and the drive to work and as soon as she gets in, she immediately settles into the DJ booth, putting in her CD. She doesn't have to look up to know that Nick's already there and Vida holds out her hand for the CD he's already handing her.

Vida settles the headphones on her ears and starts bringing her light show to life.

When she finally surfaces from the song, she sees the man standing in front of the booth, staring at her. She doesn't jump, but it's close. "Hi?"

"You? Are amazing!" he enthuses. He fumbles with something in his pocket and holds out a business card to her. Vida reaches out slowly to take it as he keeps talking. "I'm running a month of up and coming DJs at my old club in Shady Mountain and you'd be perfect for this."

Vida scans the card and looks up in surprise. "You're DJ Breezy?" Breezy doesn't look at all like she'd pictured him. He was short, a bit chubby - not that the flannel shirt and baggy jeans were helping - and his thick glasses kept sliding down his nose.

He nods enthusiastically, absently pushing his glasses back up. "It's only a couple of nights a week, but we got a deal with the camp grounds nearby. You can crash there for free. Food's up to you, though."

Vida hesitates for a second. The guy isn't glowing, nor is his card. "Only a couple of nights a week? Do I get tips too?"

Breezy laughs. "How 'bout I give you a copy of the contract to look over?"

"Sounds good," says Vida. The guy may not be her path, but it wouldn't hurt to just consider it. DJing at the Rock Porium is fun and Vida loves making music. It would be fun to get out and hang around with other DJs, change things up a bit.

*

"It wasn't even glowing a little?" asks Maddie. She's leaning against the DJ booth and fiddling with the card.

Vida shakes her head. "Nope, and I'm still going."

"But…" Maddie bites her lip and glances worriedly at Xander. "What about the whole finding our path thing?"

"Well," says Xander slowly, "it's not like we were just waiting around for things to come to us." He glances at the door when the bell rings, then smiles and waves to Chip and Nick. "It's a guide, yeah? It's not meant to do the searching for us, just point out when we're getting it right."

"What about when we're wrong?" asks Chip. "Does the spell do something then? Oh man, I wonder if it would make our heads explode!" He grins.

Nick sighs and pats him on the shoulder consolingly. "Somehow, I doubt Xander would give us a spell like that."

"Why're we talking about the spell any ways?" asks Chip curiously. "Is Vida still not getting a glow?"

Vida shakes her head. "Nope. But I've been recruited to work at a club in Shady Mountain," she says, grinning.

"Cool," says Nick, taking the card from Maddie when she holds it out. "You're still going to remember us little people when you're rich and famous, right?"

"Ha, ha," she says drily.

*

Vida crawls into her tent and flops back onto the sleeping bag with a sigh. That was way harder to set up than it should have been.

Vida debates just laying there until her set that night. She's not tired enough to sleep, but she could just veg out for a while, maybe put on a CD or something. There's a rustling in the trees near the edge of camp. Vida wonders if it's a squirrel or just some birds. Then she realizes she can't hear any birds. Or any other animals for that matter.

She sits up slowly and crawls towards the tent flap, easing her wand out of her pocket. She tilts her ear towards the flap, trying to pick up any kind of noise at all. The silence is so profound, it's almost a noise onto itself. Vida eases her phone open, holding her breath and slipping out of the tent. The campsite looks completely normal, which just makes it all creepier.

The silence grows more oppressive and Vida realizes she can't even hear herself breathing anymore. She flips out her wand, bouncing slightly on her toes. Then she hears the murmuring. It's steady and rhythmic, like someone chanting a spell. Vida takes a deep breath and points her wand to the sky. "Procella!" She shouts with all her might, but it still comes out like a weak little whisper.

The wind, on the other hand, makes noise. It screams its way into the campsite, bending trees nearly flat. Birds scatter, flapping frantically. A couple of car alarms wail to life. The gale dies as quickly as it came, taking the silence with it. Vida watches the edges of the campsite warily, but no one comes out to challenge her.

Her phone rings suddenly and Vida jumps. She quickly folds the wand back in and hits the talk button. "Hello?"

"Rocca!" says DJ Breezy. "You all set up? I want you to come in and meet your light and sound tech."

"Yeah," she says slowly, still eyeing the edges of the campground. "Are you sure it's okay to leave my stuff here?"

"Totally. We got some extra security out there. They'll be patrolling the grounds."

"All right," Vida says, backing towards her jeep. "I'll be right over." She flips her phone shut and eyes her gear. It would only take a couple of words to pack it all up back into her jeep. She stands there for a minute, chewing her lip and scanning the edges of the campsite once more.

The tree branches sway gently in the light breeze that followed her gale in and a bird flies across the clearing. Vida sighs. Whatever it was, it doesn't seem to be coming after her. She leaves her stuff set up and heads for the jeep, pulling out her keys. She'll just check everything over when she gets back tonight.

The drive to the club is uneventful. Shady Mountain is bigger than Briarwood, but not by much. There is a lot more Japanese in the general signage though. Vida considers picking up a few books, and maybe looking into taking a few classes. She does love learning new things.

The club looks like pretty much any other club in daylight, plain and unremarkable. Vida pulls into one of the parking spots for DJs and grins a bit that she can actually park there now.

Vida slips into the club and glances around. The entrance alcove is dingy and the carpet is badly scuffed. The walls are covered in stickers and flyers and a few warning posters for banned patrons. She walks through into the main room, her footsteps echoing through the room. A few beams of sunlight streak the room, highlighting dust motes and bits of glitter.

The bar is dark, its back mirror only partially obscured by a variety of bottles. Vida arches her neck a bit, but she can't see anyone back there. She turns to the main floor, striding across it to the raised platform of the DJ booth. "Hello?" she calls, her voice echoing around the room.

A door clicks open and DJ Breezy peers out into the club. "Rocca!" he says with a grin. "There you are, girl. Come on in!"

Vida smiles and makes her way over. Breezy ushers her into a dingy hallway. The faded green paint on the walls is peeling in places and there's various bits of junk cluttering the sides of the hallway.

"Okay, so, just your basic back room. You got the main staff room here," says Breezy, pointing to the first door on the left. "DJs are here on the left. You get a locker for your main junk, but you gotta get your own lock for it." Breezy points it out while Vida nods. "Bathrooms are the next two. We're not super strict on boys and girls sides, just make sure you lock and knock, cool?" Vida makes a noise of agreement, pushing her hands into her pockets.

Breezy points to the last door at the right of the hallway. "And that's the manager's office. June's got a couple of meetings, so you'll meet her later. She's cool as long as you don't bug out for your shifts." Vida nods again. One of the left doors opens and out steps a pretty Black girl. Breezy grins. "And this wonderful lady is your sound and light tech. Yoli Pratchert, meet Vida Rocca."

Yoli smiles widely and holds out her hand to Vida. "Breezy's new up and comer," she says by way of greeting. "Nice to meet you."

"You too," says Vida, shaking her hand. "Want to go over my set now? Or should we wait til later?"

"Well, you're first up, so we'd better get started," Yoli says with a laugh, tucking a couple of her stray hair braids behind her ear. "Show me what ya got, newbie."

*

Vida gets back to her campsite just as the sun is starting to rise. She's exhausted, but still wired, her skin still buzzing from the rush and excitement of the night. She carefully travels the campsite, running her wand over everything. Nothing seems to be amiss. She sighs and crawls into her tent to change.

Ready, she flops back onto her sleeping bag. She's still not quite calmed down, so it's a surprise to find herself in the dream room almost immediately. The other four look up from an impressive and elaborate card house.

"Well, finally," says Xander with a grin. "We were starting to think you'd never show."

"How was it?" Maddie asks, leaning forward.

Vida laughs. "It was awesome!" Memories of the night start flicking to life outside the windows. They swirl to life as she talks. The rush of the crowd, especially when she tracked over to a new song. The roar and throb. Yoli's speed at adapting to the changes in beats, even when Vida slipped a few things in on impulse.

"Hey, what's that?" interrupts Chip.

"What?"

He points out the window directly in front of him. "That bit of memory about the crowd."

Vida concentrates for a moment, and the image grows, surrounding them on all sides.

"Oh," says Maddie, standing up and walking closer to a part of the crowd. "I see it. Is that the spell's glow?"

Stepping closer, Vida peers at a pretty brunette surrounded by a soft glow. "I... I have no idea. It could just be the lights from the show."

"Well, you are due for it, Vee," says Xander, coming up to check out the girl.

Vida tilts her head, squinting at the girl. "Yeah, but it would make more sense if I actually knew her or met her," she says.

"Maybe you will meet her then," says Nick.

"Ugh," says Maddie suddenly, wrinkling her nose in annoyance. "I hate getting up early." Then she flickers out of the room.

"Oh man," Vida whines. "This is going to be totally boring in here when I have to sleep all day, isn't it?"

"Sorry," says Chip, then he yelps and vanishes.

Xander chuckles. "Daggeron must've tossed cold water on him again." He pats Vida on the shoulder. "Catch you tonight." Then he too is gone.

Vida turns to stare at Nick. Nick grins and lounges back. "What? It's my day off today. I can sleep as late as I want."

Grinning back, Vida forms a water balloon in the hand behind her back. "Okay then, fearless leader. Shall we have a duel?"

*

Life sort of settles into a groove for all five of them over the next month. Madison is slowly getting to know her co-workers, Xander is getting the hang of his course load, Chip is slowly getting better at his basic training, Nick is having a blast just being settled and lazing around, and Vida is getting the hang of playing for an actual club.

Vida still sees some flashes of what might be her light, but nothing concrete enough to really be sure. Nick hasn't had any indications either; neither of them is terribly worried about it though. And while she's been watching for it, there hasn't been another weird silence at her camp since the first day. She did call Clare and the two of them set up some protections around the campgrounds, just in case.

Vida flops down in the dream room, looking around curiously. It's not often that she's the first one to sleep. She's been the only one asleep when she's had shows, sure, but usually if she's in bed at night, she's never the first.

Xander flickers in next, a small, secret smile on his face. Vida tilts her head at him. "What's with you?"

"Oh, hey Vee," says Xander, dropping down beside her. He's still grinning.

Vida rolls her eyes and bumps his shoulder with hers. "Spill."

"I met a guy," Xander says, shrugging a shoulder.

She sits up. "No way, really? What's he like? Wait, first, what's his name? And-"

Xander laughs, holding up his hands in surrender. "Carter. His name's Carter. He started coming to the cafe I study at, and we shared a table."

"And stared deeply into each other's eyes..." Vida flutters her eyelashes at him.

He rolls his eyes. "Nothing like that," he says, though he's smiling again. "He was doing paperwork for his job, and the place was crowded, so he worked and I studied."

"And?"

Xander shrugged again. "And then we did it again a few days later, even though the place wasn't as bad. It was... nice."

"You guys haven't talked yet?" she asks, shaking her head at him. Boys.

"A little. He works at the fire station nearby, but I think there's more to it than that. I-"

Madison flickers into view and flops onto the large pillow that grows out of the floor. "Oh my god," she says.

Vida and Xander share a look of surprise. "What happened to you?"

"The Silver Guardians happened," says Maddie, lifting her face out of the pillow. "Evil energy is picking up again, but it's all over the place, so the Commanders started mandatory self-defence classes for the science crews."

Xander wrinkles his forehead in confusion. "But you'd ace that," he says.

Maddie nods. "And I did. And Commander Myers noticed and pulled me aside to test me. He thinks I have potential and that my form kind of sucks, but he wants to train me to be better."

"Not necessarily a bad thing," says Vida. "You're a good fighter, and you could always use the practice."

"Sis, he's a Power Ranger!" she says, eyes wide and a bit wild looking.

"Who's a Power Ranger?" asks Nick, sitting down.

"Maddie's new martial arts teacher," says Xander absently. "I don't see the problem though, I mean, he's got to be a good fighter, right?"

"I thought we had to keep our identities secret," says Vida.

"Even from other Rangers?" asks Nick, wrinkling his nose.

"Guys!" says Chip popping in. He bounces in place for a second, then flickers in and out a few times before staying solid. "Daggeron's going to take me to one of the other Realms!"

Vida grins and suddenly the room starts to flicker as her phone rings. "Crap," she manages to get out before opening her eyes. Sighing, she flicks open her phone and says, "Hello?"

"Vida?" asks Yoli. "Hey, girl, I know it's last minute, but could you come in and cover for Ralph? He totally got hit with some food poisoning."

Vida sits up, scrubbing at her hair. "Ralph? Um, yeah, sure. Let me grab my disks and I'll be right over." She sends a quick text to Maddie as she starts digging around for clothes. This is a big break for her. Ralph drew the big crowds and if Vida could prove herself tonight, she had a real chance at making a name for herself.

She manages to dress and grab a set list within fifteen minutes and then she's out of the tent and running for the jeep. Traffic's pretty slow at this time of the night, so Vida makes it in record time.

Vida rounds the corner of the club, knowing Mike'll let her in the backdoor. She spots Yoli hanging out by the ashtray and she almost calls out when she spots something glowing. Or rather, someone. Vida's jaw drops in surprise as she recognizes the pretty brunette from her first night at the club. Who's really glowing and not just some trick of the lights.

She hesitates, not sure what to do. Then the shadows in the back alley seem to come alive and turn into about a dozen men in weird masks and skin tight suits covered in white stitches. Yoli and the woman drop into defensive stances as the men attack.

Vida swears and plops her CDs onto a nearby crate before charging into the fight. They may not be Hidiacs, but Vida's never backed down from an unknown opponent yet. With a yell, she kicks one in the back and flips over him. She lands beside Yoli and blocks a punch at her face. "Strange friends you have here." She smirks.

Yoli snorts and flips one of the men into two of his buddies. "Yeah, well, gotta keep it interesting."

Vida quickly ducks a slash from a blade one of the men pulls. She grabs his arm and uses it to pull him in and punch him in the weird mask. She sees one coming at her from the side and spins blade guy into him, using just a touch of magic to ride the whirlwind and give it more force.

She glances to her left in time to see three men go to tackle the brunette. Vida moves to help as the men stumble, getting tangled up in an empty set of clothes. "What the hell?" says Vida in confusion.

She ducks a high kick at her face and the guy who tried suddenly hits the ground. The brunette shakes her head at him, "Now that's just rude, attacking a distracted opponent."

"Teleporting, huh? Not bad," says Vida. She grins at the brunette. There's a change in the air behind her and she drives her elbow back into the face of the guy behind her. "Do you always forget your clothes when you do that?"

The brunette smirks, flipping two of the guys into the nearby dumpster. "What can I say? Welmark was having a sale."

Between the three of them, the rest of the strange men are knocked out or running within a couple of minutes. Still panting a bit, Vida jogs back over to her CDs. When she turns around, both Yoli and the woman are eyeing her seriously. Vida raises her eyebrows. "What?"

"You're pretty good," says the brunette. She holds out her hand. "I'm Leanne."

Vida shakes her hand. "Vida."

"Well, Vida. Ever thought about being a ninja?"

*

When Vida finally gets back to the dream room, Nick's the only one there. He's set up a pool table of all things. As Vida gets closer, she sees a bunch of strange objects pushing the balls around. "What the hell are those?"

Nick grins up at her. "You don't recognize them? It's Chip's Warrior Elves chess set."

Vida realizes that the pool table's felt has a checker board design. "Chess pool?" She eyes him skeptically.

"Chip and Xander's idea," says Nick with a shrug. "I'm trying to figure out a side pocket shot."

Vida watches a bishop push a ball and knock over one of the elves on a horse. It goes down flailing and then angrily shakes its fist at the bishop. She giggles.

"Oh, hey," says Nick. "I never got to tell you before. I found my glow."

"Me too." Vida grins.

Nick laughs. He turns his back on the pool table and when it vanishes, he flops back onto the beanbag chair that forms in its place. "Okay, rock, paper, scissors?"

"You're on," she says, holding out her fist. They shake three times. Vida goes with paper, Nick with rock. "Ha!" she says triumphantly. "Okay." She drops down onto her own beanbag and leans forward. "Remember that chick from my first gig? The one that might have been glowing?"

"She really was," Nick concludes, leaning forward himself.

Vida nods and laughs. "I'm going to be a ninja! I'm going in tomorrow for my first class."

He laughs in amazement. "Cool!"

"And you?" she asks, poking his knee.

"Mom, Dad and I are going on a road trip," he says.

"Hang on, don't you see them all the time? Why did they glow now?"

Nick shrugs, looking a bit embarrassed. "I haven't actually really seen Dad since we did the spell, he's always out and I'm either working or sleeping."

"And Udonna?"

"Well," Nick flushes, "she always seems to glow a bit."

Vida struggles to keep a straight face. "That is the cutest thing ever."

Nick glowers at her.

She decides to cut him a break. "So what, you guys are just going to wander the globe?"

"Not exactly," says Nick, leaning back in his chair. "With all the craziness of the Master eating our magic and exploding, it's kind of making the rifts between Earth and our Realm more sensitive. Mom and Dad want to check things out, make sure nothing's gone wrong in other areas of the world. They figure it's a good way for me to learn about the connections between our Realms."

"That actually sounds pretty cool," Vida says with a nod.

*

Vida stares at the ninja training uniform laid out on her sleeping bag. She's got plenty of time before Leanne and Yoli come to pick her up for her placement test, but she's just a bit nervous. At the same time, she doesn't exactly want to be the dork who's dressed and waiting in her tent for hours when the other two women get there.

She fiddles with her phone absently. Suddenly it starts ringing and she nearly drops it in surprise. Vida flips the phone open and holds it to her ear. "Hello?"

There's nothing but silence on the other side. Vida makes a face in annoyance and is just about to hang up with she hears it. It's very faint, but it sounds like Xander.

"Xander? Can you hear me?"

She's straining desperately to pick up anything. She thinks she can hear a very faint "help". Vida stands up, clutching the phone to her ear.

"Hang on!" she shouts. "I'm getting the others. If you can hear me, try a spell. Something loud and big!" She hits the end button and immediately starts dialling Maddie's number. When Maddie picks up, Vida starts talking. "Xander's in trouble."

"Oh God," Maddie whispers. 'Look, sis, I can't get away. I-I can try, but it's going to take time."

Vida huffs in exasperation. Life was so much easier when it just involved getting out of the Rock Porium. "Call the guys for me then. I'm going to Xander." She flips her phone shut and slaps her hand on the closest tree trunk, racing through the roots to Mariner Bay.

She's following the spark of Xander's magic, but it's hard to see. There's a dark cloud of magic growing over the root system the closer she gets. Then Chip's there, racing along like a bolt of lightning. Vida grabs onto him as he picks up speed. Chip stumbles out of the tree first, Vida crashing into him.

She gasps, or tries too. There's a complete absence of sound in the clearing. Chip's staring at her with wide eyed shock. Vida grimaces and flips out her wand. Something moves out of the corner of her eye and she turns to see Xander waving at them frantically.

Pulling Chip with her, she runs over and Xander motions for them to crouch down. He holds a finger to his lips for silence and Vida rolls her eyes, giving him a look of disbelief. He grins sheepishly and leads them over to a patch of bushes. Vida peers over them cautiously and gasps again. There's a circle of samurai in red armour and a bunch of those weird patchwork men that had attacked Yoli and Leanne.

The chanting she'd heard in the clearing by her tent starts to slowly swell in the silence and Vida realizes that it's coming from this group. She tenses, gripping her wand tight. Chip flips his wand out and she can see that Xander's already got his ready. Xander holds out his free hand, index finger and pinky extended. Vida copies him and nudges Chip to do the same. They touch fingers in a circle and their battle telepathy sparks to life.

Vida wants to try the gale spell again, but Chip thinks they might be prepared for it this time. Vida allows that it does feel stronger this time. Xander figures they should combine powers, send out a force that's tied to all three of their elements. Chip can think of plenty of storms, but nothing directly linked to earth. Vida grins and looks at all the trees in the area. Forest fire. Xander hesitates for a second - Carter's a fire fighter, but Chip can already feel Nick and Maddie coming, they can contain it after. Xander nods, so does Vida. They break the connection.

Vida stands up first and thrusts her wand into the air. She shouts, "Thyella nermax!" into the silence, her voice barely a whisper, and the wind picks up, pushing heavy, black clouds into the sky. Chip shoots to his feet, and shouts, "Thyella nermax!", and Vida's not sure, but she thinks it's just a bit louder than her. Lightning flares and races through the clouds, sparking and spitting at the ground. Xander stands up and shouts, "Thyella nermax!", voice almost audible and the trees around them strain upwards, almost reaching for the lightning.

They share a glance and as one, shout, "Thyella nermax!" once more. There's an ear piercing shriek as bolts of lightning spear down through the air and impact with tree after tree. Fire roars to life and the wind picks up, carrying it and feeding it, pushing it towards the circle of samurai and patchwork men. The group scatters, some running for their lives, while others are trying to gather up what looks like spell supplies.

"Oh, no," snaps Vida, feeling her Mystic Warrior uniform settle around her. "I don't think so." She charges, Xander and Chip right behind her. She leaps and kicks a patchwork guy in the chest, knocking him back from several bags of herbs. Xander clotheslines a samurai guy coming at her from the side and Chip grabs as much of the stuff as possible, throwing it into the growing wall of fire coming for them.

"Mystic Warriors!" snarls a samurai, drawing his sword. "You shall not interrupt us again."

Vida snorts and ducks his slash, twisting and throwing her cape up into his face. He flinches and she kicks him in the face. He slams his fist into her back, knocking her to the ground and she sweeps his feet out from under him. She kicks him in the stomach before he hits the ground and sends him flying back. He crashes into some vials of liquid and snarls something at her. She can't make it out over the growing roar of the fire.

Three patchwork men leap from the shadows and charge right for her. Vida scrambles to her feet, but a stream of fire lashes out, blasting all three of them back. The fire fades to reveal Nick. Vida grins and gives him a thumbs up. She turns to focus on the samurai dude again, but he's gone. She frowns in disappointment and looks around. Chip's managed to burn everything he could find and Xander's standing over several unconscious patchwork men.

Maddie staggers out of a tree and looks around in shock. Chip jogs over towards her, Vida close behind. Maddie flips out her wand. Behind them Nick's got his wand already pointed at the growing blaze, lips moving. Vida watches for a moment as the fire slows. Then Xander's whispering his own spell, swells of dirt rising and smothering flames and then rising again.

"It kind of looks like a ground tide, huh?" says Maddie thoughtfully.

"Better watch out for Bulette," Chip says with a wide grin. He notices the blank looks Maddie and Vida are giving him. "Landshark, remember?"

Vida does and laughs. She holds up her wand and nods to Maddie and Chip. As one, the three of them start their own spell. "Galwit nermax imbrium." There's a clap of thunder and a massive downpour starts up, drenching the team and the surrounding forest.

They start walking steadily through the trees, checking that all of the flames are out. Nick nods, giving the all clear and as one, the other four mutter, "Finitio."

"Well that was fun," grumbles Maddie, wringing out her cape.

Vida smiles at her. She's about to mention that it's a great way to kill a couple of hours when it hits her. "Oh crap," she says. "I'm going to be late for class!" She darts to the nearest tree and slaps her palm on it, racing through the roots to her camp.

She practically leaps from the last tree straight into her tent, pulling off her top as she goes. She's in the ninja uniform - with normal clothes over top - in minutes and stumbles back out of her tent just as she hears a vehicle pulling up. Vida pushes her wet bangs out of her face and curses silently that she doesn't have time to dry her hair.

Yoli arches an eyebrow at Vida as their car pulls to a stop. "You always shower before heavy exercise?" she asks.

Vida laughs and opens the car door, climbing into the back seat. "I was attacked by a ketchup bottle," she lies easily. Though really, those samurai were in all red armour…

Leanne puts the car into drive and glances at Vida in the rear view mirror. "Any questions about the Thunder Academy?" she asks, turning onto the main road.

Vida shakes her head. "Nah, I like surprises." She grins and sits back.

"Awesome," Yoli says. "Then we can talk about your set for tomorrow night. I've got some lighting ideas I wanna run by you."

*

Vida's good at expecting the unexpected, but two things surprised her about the Thunder Academy. The first was that she's the only person in for a placement. The second is that the head sensei is a tall blond guy not much older than her. She leans closer to Yoli and whispers, "are we early?"

Yoli smiles and shakes her head. "We're a small academy and not a lot of people are suited to our elements. Most of the time, we just send potential students to the Wind Academy and sort it all out there."

"So I'm special?" says Vida with a teasing smirk.

Leanne snorts softly. "Official placement class was two days ago. I figured we could squeeze you in and Shane's over here visiting any ways." She nods to the serious looking guy with the red stripes on his uniform. Shane's talking quietly with the Thunder Academy head sensei.

Vida nods at the blond guy. "Isn't he a little young to be in charge? I figured he'd be a wise old man."

"Who, Hunter? He's cool and skilled, trust me." She grins and claps Vida on the shoulder. "He and Shane were Power Rangers. They know what they're doing." Hunter nods at Leanne and she nods back. "All right, kid. Good luck."

Vida stares at Leanne and Yoli as they head to the side lines. Power Rangers. First Xander and Maddie, now her. Vida bows as Hunter approaches her, mentally shaking her head; the spell's leading them to other Rangers and there's a group of freaky samurai working black magic. She really hopes it's just a really big coincidence.

Hunter drops into ready stance and smirks at her. "Ready?"

Vida can't resist smirking back. She's hardly an amateur here. "Oh yeah."

He launches several punches in a row at her. Vida deflects the first two that come near her and spins into her block of the third, aiming a kick at his head. Hunter moves into it and kicks out her other foot. Vida falls fast, but just manages to turn it into a roll to give herself some distance.

Hunter grins and she charges him. She body slams him, only to find that she's holding an empty uniform. She remembers the trick, grips the uniform and whips it around behind her. Hunter staggers back, momentarily blinded and Vida lands a kick to his stomach.

She grabs the uniform, spinning it like a fan to kick up dust. Hunter slashes his hand at the ground and vanishes in a bolt of lightning. Vida freezes, focusing on the air around her, seeing where the currents are shifting. There, a breeze to her left, Vida spins, throwing a kick to where Hunter's face should be. She has half a second to realize nothing's there before someone slams into her from behind.

Vida hits the ground and rolls, drawing her legs in close. As soon as she sees Hunter's knees, she kicks out and knocks him staggering back. He laughs and kicks at her head as she flips to her feet. Vida rolls her torso, going around and under his foot. She blocks his punch and throws one of her own. He grabs her wrist and flips her to the ground, pinning her.

He grins widely at her. "You're good," he says.

"You're also totally an Air ninja," says a deeper voice. Vida glances up to see Shane standing over them. He grins at Hunter. "Sorry, dude. She's totally ours."

Hunter nods easily and stands up. He offers Vida a hand up. "Yeah, you're a natural," he says to her.

*

"So how's that gonna work?" asks Chip, tossing a pool ball from hand to hand.

Vida snorts, leaning back in her bean bag chair. "DJ Breezy's a ninja too. He's got a club in Blue Bay Harbor that I could play at. Or I could just commute." She shrugs.

"Will you?" asks Maddie, tilting her head curiously.

"Well, I'll get more work at the Blue Bay Harbor club," says Vida thoughtfully. "And Yoli says she'll come with me if I want."

"Sounds like you already know what you're going to do," Nick says. He watches Chip play with the pool ball, then picks up a couple of them himself, juggling them clumsily.

Vida nods and then prods Xander with her foot. "What I really want to know is how three of us managed to meet other Power Rangers."

"Four," says Nick, eyes on his pool balls. "We ran into a guy on the road. Mom says he's got Ranger energy around him."

Vida, Maddie and Chip all turn to look at Xander. He stares around the room and shrugs helplessly. "The spell could be doing it, but it's not like I planned it, guys. The words and intent aren't specific enough for this."

"So, what," Maddie says, picking up one of the chess knights and letting the horse trot across her palm. "Do we tell them who we are?"

"Are we even allowed?" asks Chip seriously. Vida looks at him in surprise and he meets her gaze seriously. "Well, it's not just our secret, right? We're hiding a whole Realm's link to this Realm."

"But we wouldn't have to tell them about that," says Vida, confused. "Just about us."

"Hi, I'm a Power Ranger. Yeah, we defeated some evil magical demons. No, that's all I can say about them," tries Nick.

"Or, we could just say that they came from the Underworld," says Maddie, setting the knight back down.

"And what about where our powers came from?" Chip asks.

Maddie shrugs and looks to Xander. He sighs, leaning back in his chair. "How about, we keep it quiet for now and ask Clare to talk to the rest of Briarwood?"

Vida nods. "Sounds good to me."

*

Vida's willing to admit that she loves the new club. It's smaller, but more intimate. The pay's a bit less, but Vida's got more nights that she plays, so it evens out. Housing is still campgrounds, though she's by the beach now. Vida's been eyeing the surfers on her days off, it doesn't look too hard.

Her ninja classes aren't too hard. She has to unlearn some of the forms she picked up from her Ranger days, but a lot of it is so intuitive to moving as the wind that Vida slips right into it all with ease. Sensei Shane's taken over as her primary instructor and she can tell that he's impressed with her. He's constantly suppressing a grin at her progress and he's always pushing her harder than his other students.

All in all, Vida's settling into a good life in Blue Bay Harbor. They still haven't figured out the deal with the samurais yet, and Vida's still trying to come up with a good way to ask about Sensei Shane's Ranger history. She's drawn out of her reverie when a hot blonde dances her way up to Vida's booth.

Vida grins at her and tries not to be obvious in checking the girl out. The girl smiles back warmly and leans on the edge of the booth. "Hey," she says over the music. "What was that song you played just before the last one?"

Blinking, Vida checks the paper set list she's got on the table beside her. Suddenly her vision is obscured by long blonde hair and Vida looks up in surprise. The girl smiles again, inches from Vida, and shrugs apologetically. Vida snorts and tells her the name any ways.

"Thanks," says the girl and dances back onto the floor.

Vida watches her go and jumps when an elbow jabs into her side. "What?" she asks Yoli in irritation.

Yoli rolls her eyes and points after the blonde. "Now see that? Was a perfect example of a missed opportunity. You could have had a date tonight."

After taking a second to kick herself mentally, she grins at Yoli. "She'll be back," she realizes, holding up her set list. "This is last week's." Yoli laughs and hits the light sequence for the new base line.

Vida's right, the blonde is back again just as she's wrapping up her set. She's dancing absent mindedly while Vida gathers her stuff and makes room for DJ Maelstrom, who's finishing tonight. Slinging her bag over her shoulder, Vida makes her way over, smiling when the girl spots her.

Leaning in close, Vida says, "That was the wrong set list."

The girl laughs. "Okay, let's make a deal, you tell me the song, I'll tell you my name."

"Strong In Love, by Chicane," says Vida. "I'm on a retro kick."

"And I'm Tori," says Tori, offering her hand.

Vida shakes it and finds that she doesn't want to let go. "Can I buy you a drink?"

Tori nods, hips still swaying gently in time to the beat. "Sounds good to me."

One drink leads to another and then Tori tugs her onto the dance floor and Vida lets the music pull them into its current. Halfway into the first song, Vida brushes her hands along Tori's arms. Tori grins and moves closer, brushing hands along Vida's hips. Vida runs a hand down Tori's arm, enjoying the slick, smooth slide.

When the next song starts up, Tori moves closer, hooking her arms loosely around Vida's neck. For her part, Vida slips her arms around Tori's waist, letting the music guide their movements. Leaning close, Vida asks, "There's a party after closing, wanna come?"

Tori nods, leaning in herself. "Sounds like fun."

*

The after party isn't so much a party as it's a wind down. DJs, techs and friends take over the small diner close to the club and hang out until sunrise. Conversations are always disjointed and weird. Vida spends most of breakfast pressed up close to Tori and helping DJ Janna convert Tori to the wonders of Tritonal's skills.

Tori's handling the whole thing pretty well. She's clearly humouring them, but she stays pressed close and warm to Vida and steals a few bites of Vida's pancakes.

One by one, people are starting to slip out. Vida doesn't want to move though, and she's picking more slowly at her remaining pancake. Out of the corner of her eye, she watches Tori take a long drink of juice. Then Tori leans in close, pressing her shoulder to Vida's. "Hey," Tori says, "want a ride home?"

Vida grins. "Sure!" She takes a last bite of her pancakes and stands up. "I'm ready."

Tori smiles and stands up too. "My van's out this way," she says, heading for the door.

Waving to some of the remaining club group, Vida hurries to follow her.

"So where are you staying?" asks Tori, pulling her keys out of her pocket and leading Vida towards a blue mini-bus.

"I'm set up in the campgrounds by Waverly Beach," Vida says, leaning against the side of the bus while Tori unlocks the doors.

"No way!" Tori looks up with a look of surprised delight. "My surf shop's near there."

Vida blinks. "Your surf shop?"

Tori nods and opens the passenger door for Vida. They pause the conversation to both get in the bus and buckle up. "I make custom surf boards," Tori says.

"No way," says Vida, grinning. "I've been wanting to try surfing."

"Well, I could teach you, if you want." Tori smiles.

"That would be awesome."

Tori pulls off onto the campgrounds and Vida directs her towards the right plot. Vida hesitates before getting out, though. She really doesn't want to leave. So she grins at Tori and says, "Well, I'm going to be out of it all day, but I don't have to play again until Sunday. What are you doing tomorrow?"

Tapping the steering wheel in thought, Tori chews her lip before saying, "Well, I have to do something first thing in the morning on Saturdays, but I have the afternoon free. We could meet up for lunch first?"

Vida nods. "It's a date," she says. Then she screws up her courage and leans over, kissing Tori on the lips briefly.

Tori makes a small surprised noise and hooks a hand around Vida's neck before she can pull away, deepening the kiss. Vida lets out a small moan and loses herself in the kiss. They eventually pull back, both panting lightly. Vida grins, presses one last quick kiss to Tori's already kiss swollen lips and then opens the passenger door.

"Lunch, tomorrow," she says, and realizes that she can't stop grinning.

Tori nods. "I'll pick you up here." When Vida nods, Tori smiles and puts the bus in gear.

Vida stays there, watching her drive off until the mini-bus isn't visible at all anymore. She turns and practically floats to her tent, with a quick check of her feet to make sure she isn't actually floating.

*

In an effort to get her sleep schedule somewhat back on daytime for her date, Vida stays up and works on the Japanese language homework for the class she's started taking. When she blinks and sees the dream room around her, she's pretty sure she fell asleep on her books.

She stares out the windows and watches kanji run around a murky landscape. A pair of them pull loose some of their strokes and use them as makeshift swords in a battle that looks distinctly ninja in style. Vida groans and flops back onto one of the bean bag chairs.

She doesn't really do much but lay there quietly, listening to the faint sounds of the kanji swords clashing and an underlying roar that's probably the surf out by the beach. There's a shift in the room and Xander flops down beside her.

"Bloody tests," he mumbles. He gives her a half-hearted poke in the ribs. "Did you stay up all day again?"

Vida turns her head to look at him and grins. "Yeah. I have a date."

"No way," says Xander, face lighting up. "Really? What's her name?"

"Tori." Vida rolls a bit onto her side to better face Xander. "You should see her dance, she's amazing."

Xander laughs. "That's great, Vee." His left knee bounces a bit, which means he has something he wants to tell her too.

She pokes the knee in question. "Okay, Xander Bly. Spill."

"Okay," says Xander brightly. "So, usually, the cafe's packed and Carter's always there first and just lets me share his table, yeah?" Vida nods. "Dunno what it was today, but it was complete madness, noise levels through the roof, I couldn't find a table even." He pauses, not bothering to contain his grin. "So, Carter gets there, takes it all in and invites me along to the park, so we could work in silence."

It's Vida's turn to laugh. "Awesome!" she declares. Then she smiles deviously, anticipating his reaction. "So, when are you asking him out?"

Xander stares at her, uncomprehending for a few seconds before it clicks. "What? But I- And he's-" He waves his hands at her, a loss for words.

"Wow, you broke Xander," says Nick, plopping down on his bean bag chair beside Xander. He leans a bit closer and pokes at Xander's shoulder, pretending to be fascinated. Xander bats at his finger, giving him a dirty look. Nick laughs. "What'd I miss?"

"I have a date with a beautiful girl," says Vida, gesturing to herself. Then she points to Xander. "And he wants a date with a hot guy."

Nick mulls that over for a few seconds then bats his eyes at Xander. "Anyone in particular?" he says, making both Vida and Xander crack up.

"What's so funny?" ask Chip, appearing on the bean bag chair beside Vida. "Is Nick trying to pick up Xander again?"

Vida shakes her head in amazement. "How can you always tell?"

Chip shrugs easily. "Magic," he says with a bright grin, while the rest of them groan.

Maddie appears in the room and flops down with a groan, half on her bean bag chair and half on Nick. "I don't want to be Commander Meyer's favourite," she whines. "He's worse than you, Sis."

"Hey!" protests Vida, creating a paper ball and tossing it at Maddie's head. Maddie doesn't move and it bounces off and rolls towards the windows.

Chip suddenly points at the window, blinking in confusion. "Why are kanji and Latin words having a war?" The rest of them look over and Xander and Vida groan in unison. The kanji, with their makeshift swords really are battling an army of Latin words, some of which are tossing Greek letters as weapons.

And like the dreams knew it had their full attention, a caveman blithely wanders onto the scene. "Hey," says Nick, pointing. "It's Chip's caveman."

Chip huffs in annoyance. "He's not mine."

Vida opens her mouth to tease Chip further but stops, watching as the caveman picks up a stray kanji stroke and a Greek letter and proceeds to charge at both sides of the battle. Kanji and Latin alike flee in terror, off into the dark shadows, the caveman hot on their heels.

"Huh," says Xander, baffled.

They wait, attention fixed on the windows. Three purple rabbits in cowboy hats hop by. Then a fish in a top hat wanders by, pauses, hails a cab and is gone. Suddenly the caveman explodes out of the shadows, running in terror and being chased by the combined armies of kanji and Latin. They all watch in silent fascination as the caveman disappears into the shadows on the other side of their shared dream world.

"Our brains are so weird," Maddie says seriously.

*

Saturday, Vida's ready by eleven, so she decides to kill time by sorting through some of the new records Toby sent her. She laughs when she finds the record by that nose hair choir that Phineas loves - with a post it from Toby begging her to make it go somewhere Phineas won't find it. She's about to start sorting them into piles when she hears the sound of an engine pulling up and she scrambles out of the tent.

Tori gives her a wide grin as her mini-bus pulls to a stop. She hops out of the bus and lightly jogs over to the passenger side, opening the door just as Vida gets to it. Vida laughs. "Thanks."

"So," says Tori when they're both in the bus. "You want pizza or hot dogs for lunch?"

Vida thinks about it for a couple of seconds. "I could go for pizza."

Sliding the bus into gear, Tori smiles easily. "Pizza it is."

*

"And then you ate the pizza and stared dreamily into each other's eyes the whole time," finishes Nick, fluttering his lashes at her.

Vida makes a face at him in annoyance. "Shut up," she grumbles, pushing his knee with her foot. "We talked about music and surfing, okay?"

"And how was your first surfing lesson, Vee?" asks Xander, comfortably slumped in his bean bag chair.

She grins. "Not bad. I fell off a lot. I think I'd do better at wind surfing." It had been a lot of fun, Tori spent a lot of time with her hands on Vida's hips while explaining proper balance. And Tori had really nice strong hands.

They'd spent a lot of time talking, true, though Vida often found it hard to look away from Tori's lips. When they'd both been utterly sick of the water, they'd gone back to Tori's surf shop. "You know she designs custom surf boards?" Vida says.

"Oh, so if I wanted one with bike handles, she could do it?" asks Chip brightly.

Vida laughs. "Nah, she does the designs and board lengths and stuff."

"Oh, cool," Maddie says, sitting up a bit. "She must be good."

"She's had her boards in used in competitions," says Vida, nodding. "She's even won some major competitions herself."

"Hot and cool, you picked a winner there, Vee." Xander gives her a teasing grin.

Vida laughs. "Well, she's no Power Ranger like your guy," she teases Xander.

Xander flushes. "He's not mine."

"Yet," says Nick, grinning at him.

Xander slouches down in his chair and shoots Chip a desperate look. Chip grins at him reassuringly and says, "Guess what, guys?"

Maddie grins. "Daggeron took you to a new Realm," she says.

Laughing, Chip sits forward. "Well, yeah, he's always doing that. But it's what I learned there that was cool."

"So?" Nick gestures at him. "Don't leave us hanging, man."

"Well, remember how you guys were trying to figure out Wild Force's animals?" Chip asks Maddie.

She nods. "Yeah, sentient Zords aren't unheard of, but their level of sentience was a lot higher than anything we've seen before, especially for a team that has no alien associations. And their ability to create Ranger powers. And-"

"Exactly," interrupts Chip, bouncing in his seat a bit. "Thousands of years ago, a gap formed between Earth Realm and the Knah Realm. Those parts of Earth and Knah were experimenting with technology and it all reacted to the magic and started twisting into these creatures called Orgs."

Vida glanced up when she saw something moving out of the corner of her eye. Chip's story was playing out for them in their dreams. Trees of barbed wire were sprouting, tires were taking a life of their own, chasing down little people forms and eating them.

"But there was this order on Knah, right? They were Mystics, like Leanbow's team-"

"And like us," says Nick.

Chip shakes his head. "No, they could only use animal forms from nature."

Xander opens his mouth to ask something, but Vida quickly shushes him. "Let him finish first, I want to hear this."

"Okay, so. They studied pure magic and animals and were basically the opposite of these Orgs, so they started protecting people on both sides of the gap, like we did. And both sides kept getting stronger, feeding off the magic."

Outside, Vida could see various animals charging to the rescue. There was a bright red lion flinging tires, while a yellow eagle and a blue condor were strafing the barbed wire trees.

"There were a hundred warriors in this order," continues Chip. "And eventually, the five main leaders figured out that the Orgs were drawing their power from the gap between Realms. So they joined up, like we used to with the megazord, only they melded their minds too."

"Why?" asks Maddie. "You can lose yourself completely doing that."

Chip nods. "Yeah and they did! But they needed the power to close the gap and save both the Realms. They became a single being, Animus, and led a battle that pushed them all into the Earth Realm - because the connection's weaker here - and sealed the gap behind them."

"So the Zords are their left over powers?" asks Xander, looking confused.

"Not exactly," says Chip, biting his lip.

"It was too much, wasn't it?" Maddie says softly. "They had to go too deep into the animal forms and got stuck."

Chip smiles sadly. "The rest of the story is hazy on Knah's side, but with the animals, they got stuck, yeah. They didn't have something to channel the Mystic Force with, they didn't need it in the Mystic Realm, and so they had to find warriors from Earth to act as avatars."

"The gap was in Turtle Cove, wasn't it?" says Nick. When the rest of them look at him, he shrugs. "That Ranger, Merrick, that we ran into on the road? He was from there. And well, he talked about the Wolf Knight like he recognized the powers."

"Okay, I have to ask now," says Maddie. "Why are we different?" She gestures to the five of them.

"We're the first team in thousands of years to use mystical animals," guesses Nick. Chip nods.

"But Ranger powers always change," says Maddie, tilting her head to the side. "We've had animals, inanimate objects, cars…"

"Ranger powers, yeah," says Chip. "But we're Mystic Warriors first. When the Mystic Mother was brainwashed by evil, everyone's power levels took a hit. They could only connect to the basics, not to the real powers of the Mystic Force."

"That's why Daggeron doesn't turn into his train, isn't it?" Xander says, nodding slowly.

"Yeah," says Chip. "The Mystic Mother came back after the war. We're the first team in over ten thousand years to have our full powers."

"Wow," Vida says.

*

Vida flops wetly back onto the sand, panting heavily. "Okay, okay, I think even my hair is pruning."

"It is not," says Tori with a giggle. She sets both their boards in the sand and sits down beside Vida. "And you're the one who wanted to keep me company while I practised," she adds, tossing a towel over Vida's head.

Vida pulls the towel down and clutches it to her chest dramatically. "It's not my fault you look hot in a wet suit!" Tori laughs and Vida closes her eyes, letting the sounds wash over her.

Tori lays down beside Vida, pressing their shoulders together. "Hey, you want to go to a movie tomorrow night? You don't have to play, right?"

"I'm free. A movie sounds good," she replies, smiling softly.

Rolling onto her side, Tori props her head on her hand and grins mischievously. "You know, I think you're right. We're both beyond soaked." She runs a slow finger down Vida's arm. "Maybe we should head back to your tent to dry off for a while."

Vida puts on her best innocent and confused face. "Wouldn't lying out in the sun dry us off?"

It's worth it for the baffled look on Tori's face. Then she seems to realize Vida's teasing her and rolls her eyes. "Funny. Come on, we should shower the sand off first." She sits up and tugs Tori with her.

"Not more water," groans Vida. "What are you, part fish?"

*

"-and we're going to be out there all week taking readings," says Maddie as Vida appears in the dream room.

"Out where?" she asks.

Xander grins. "Our fair Madison is going to be in my neck of the woods," he says. "They're investigating some odd evil surges in the area and her Rangers are mates with mine, so..."

"You think it's because of that spell we interrupted?" Vida asks curiously. She drops down onto her bean bag chair.

'I'm not sure," says Maddie with a shrug. "That was a couple of months ago. You'd think the residual magic would have dissipated by now."

"I don't know," says Chip as he sits down. "Daggeron and I have been picking up some strange rumblings in the Shadow Realm."

Nick wanders over from his position at the windows. "My parents and I ran into this strange couple. I was sensing some powerful magic from the woman and Mom noticed it too. She said she'd been having a lot of bad dreams."

"Udonna?" says Maddie.

"No, the woman," says Nick. "I can't remember her name, but her boyfriend was Jindrecks or something like that."

"I'll keep an eye out," says Maddie.

*

Vida yawns as she passes through the portal to the Wind Academy. Whoever decided that it was a good idea to have a training class at seven in the morning on Saturdays should be shot, she decides. And not just because she had to work last night. She pauses just inside the holographic screen and scrubs a hand through her hair. Heaving a sigh, she whips off the civilian disguise and slips her head covering on.

She jumps up to land easily on a nearby tree branch and starts hopping from branch to branch towards the waterfall gate. Suddenly a jet of water blasts her hard, knocking her to the ground. Vida rolls and comes up in ready stance. Standing a few feet away is a Water Ninja, dressed in a sensei's uniform.

Vida suppresses a groan. Early morning, hardly any sleep and a surprise test. She's starting to dislike being Sensei Shane's favourite. The Water Ninja charges forward and Vida spins into the air, riding the currents up to a better vantage point. The Water Ninja launches several shuriken at her and Vida jerks out of the way, letting them pin her empty uniform to the trunk.

She lands behind the ninja and blasts a small whirlwind at his feet, knocking him backwards. She flips over him and kicks him in the stomach as she goes. The ninja grunts and grabs her ankle, twisting and pulling her back. Vida spins, kicking with her free foot. The ninja lets go at the last second and Vida sails free.

She lands and shoots several shuriken of her own at the ninja. They thunk dully in the log that's there instead of a ninja. Vida curses under her breath. The humidity at her left suddenly skyrockets and Vida flips out of the way, narrowly escaping the stream of water.

Pushing off the trunk of a tree, Vida runs along the air currents, shooting a stream of shuriken and small wind tunnels at the ninja. In turn, the guy spins out of the way then lifts his arms into the air, drawing up a ring of water jets. One of them hits Vida's leg and jerks her off her path. She hits the ground hard, but flips to her feet immediately.

She's about to attack when Sensei Shane's laugh fills the clearing. He walks up, grinning broadly and claps the Water Ninja on the shoulder. "Dude," he says, "I told you she was awesome."

The Water Ninja lets out a very familiar huff of laughter and yanks off his - no, her - head covering. Vida stares in surprise at the spill of long blonde hair and the extremely familiar face, right up to the hickey she put on that neck last night on her break.

"Tori?" she exclaims, ripping off her own head covering.

Tori's eyes widen and her jaw drops. "Vida?"

*

Vida makes it to the dream room last and she's still feeling kind of dazed. The others are already settled in their bean bag chairs and Xander's waving his hands around excitedly. Vida drops down into her chair in time to hear him say, "And he brought me a potted plant!"

"Who did?" asks Vida.

Xander grins at her. "Carter. I'm officially dating a Power Ranger, Vee."

Vida grins back. "That's awesome. And hey, me too."

There's a second where everyone stares at her in incomprehension. Then they get it.

"No way!" says Chip. He bounces a bit in his seat.

"Your girlfriend was a Ninja Storm Ranger?" Nick says with a widening grin.

Vida nods. "Blue." She smirks at Maddie. "It's always the quiet ones."

Maddie makes a face at her. "It would serve you right if Eric did try to adopt me."

Laughing, Vida says, "Oh come on. From what you've said about him, if you left him alone with Mom for five minutes, she would totally adopt him into the family."

Nick sobers and looks at Chip. "Any word from Clare, yet?" he asks. "Because that's three important relationships we've got with other Rangers. And with all this evil activity, this could bite us in the ass if we don't come clean."

Chip nods in understanding. "I fell asleep on Daggeron's train. We're actually on our way home right now."

Vida decides that the mood's become way too serious. She shoves Xander's shoulder. "So tell me about this date, already."

*

Tori slides into the diner's booth, right across from Vida, and steals one of her fries. "Sorry I'm late," she says. "Dustin took forever to show us his new trick."

Vida smiles at her. It's on the tip of her tongue to joke about how her Earth Ranger prefers skateboard tricks.

Tori leans in a bit, looking slightly worried. "Hey, this isn't too weird, is it? Now that you know I'm…" she gestures towards herself and shrugs, "you know."

Shaking her head, Vida snags the half eaten fry out of Tori hand and pops it into her mouth. "Nah, trust me. I know a few things about secrets you can't share on your own."

Nodding easily, Tori steals another fry off Vida's plate. "Okay," she says. "Good. Now, about tonight. That place by the ocean got closed down. Some suspicious vandalism." Tori frowns absently and now that Vida knows to look for it, she can see the part that's all Ranger - the part that's clearly itching to look into it. "So, I was thinking we could try that new sushi place on Roune."

Vida nods her agreement, pushing down her own instincts to look into the vandalism.

*

Sensei Shane pats her shoulder repeatedly. When he doesn't immediately stop, Vida looks over at him. He's not even looking at her; instead, he's staring nervously at Sensei Watanabe. Then he suddenly turns his gaze on her and gives Vida a large, forced grin.

"Don't worry," he says. "You'll be fine."

Vida smiles back, more naturally and grabs his hand to stop the patting. "Don't worry, Teach. I'll make you proud." The second Sensei Shane glances over at his sensei again, Vida leans around his body and shoots Tori a desperate look.

Tori huffs a laugh and nudges Sensei Dustin, who follows her over. She and Sensei Dustin each take one of Sensei Shane's arms and tug him back from Vida. "Dude," says Sensei Dustin. "You're seriously nervous enough for you and your prodigy here. Give her some air, man."

Sensei Shane looks between them, startled. "But-"

"She's fine," soothes Tori. "Trust me, she's awesome."

Vida smiles at her gratefully. She sees Sensei Watanabe and Sensei Hunter stepping forward, while some of the other senseis take up positions around them. Vida takes a bracing breath and bows to them.

She drops into a ready stance and waits for the signal. She knows that it's a big deal that Sensei Shane's pushing for her master's test now and she's determined to prove him right. She's even spent a few dates with Tori going over her katas for the first part of the test.

Sensei Watanabe nods and Vida slides into the first kata easily. She blocks out the observers and focuses on the flow of her movements and the air around them. She feels the familiar hum of her magic settle into her bones, letting her touch the edges of becoming the wind.

As she moves into the second kata, a secondary hum picks up, rumbling up through her feet. Xander's training with the sensei Carter's team mate Chad introduced him to. She suppresses a smile and keeps going. The rumbles of Xander's Earth mingle with Vida's Air, like the breeze through the trees.

She's two moves from the end of the kata when a new hum prickles the air around her. She can almost smell the ozone as Chip starts training with Daggeron. His hum harmonizes with hers and Xander's as she shifts into her third kata. Midway through this one, a cool hum flows into the three of them. Maddie's training with Commander Myers now.

Vida's moves never falter and deep in the back of her mind, she knows she should be worried about this. It's rare that more than two of them are training at the same time. But Vida feels nothing but peace. She moves into her second to last kata and Nick adds his own warm hum to the song of them.

She doesn't smile, but Vida knows that she's doing perfectly. They all are. Where one element falters, another picks up. Xander's Earth grounds them, Vida's Air is giving them life, Maddie's Water is giving them grace, Chip's Lightning is giving them speed and Nick's Fire is giving them passion.

Vida's on her last kata now, riding high on the song of her team. She starts to spin into a wind kick. A loud discordant sound explodes through Vida's senses and magic. The kick goes wild as a hurricane roars to life and tosses her into the air. Vida flails desperately, her magic mixing with the rest of the team and everything's chaos. Because she's twisting through the air, but she's ducking as water mains explode around her, and the lightning bolt is heading straight for Daggeron, no, that's the fireball heading for Mom, and the ground is buckling and surging under his feet.

Vida hits the ground hard, knocking the air out of her lungs, but bringing her back to herself. She gasps desperately, trying to breathe and then Tori and Sensei Shane are there. Tori leans in close, helping Vida sit up and rubbing her arms steadily. "It's okay," she says, panic giving her voice an edge. "You're okay."

"What happened?" asks Sensei Shane, checking her pupils.

"A surge of great evil," says Sensei Watanabe. He's calmer than Tori and Sensei Shane, but he still looks at bit worried when he meets Vida's gaze. "I fear that this was only the start of something far greater."

*

Vida clutches her phone to her ear, one eye on the door of the infirmary, just in case. Nick picks up before the first ring is even finished. "Udon-"

"She's fine," says Nick in a shaky voice. "She froze it."

She lets out a shaky breath of her own. The line beeps and she presses the buttons to put Chip on the line. "Daggeron's okay! Jenji got him out of the way-"

"Udonna's okay," she says before he can ask.

Someone's line clicks. "Vee!" Maddie says, fear laced into her tone.

"Just got the wind knocked out me, that's all."

The line clicks one more time. "Shit," mutters Xander.

"Mom froze it-"

"-And Jenji moved Daggeron."

"-Just soaked everyone and ruined the pipes-"

"-It only knocked the wind out of me-"

"-Banged and bruised, but no one was crushed-"

Vida takes a deep steadying breath. "We need to tell people who we are," she says. "That was big."

"Yeah," says Xander, still sounding a bit freaked out. "I think those guys finally got their spell to work."

"But the council's still debating it," protests Chip.

"Fuck that," snaps Vida, dragging a hand through her hair. "It's different now."

"Now we have something evil on the loose," says Nick in agreement. "We tell the other Rangers."

"Tomorrow," agrees Xander.

Vida nods. "Yeah."

"Agreed," says Maddie.

Chip sighs. "Okay, okay. All for one."

Vida glances up as she hears footsteps coming near the door. "Gotta go," she says and flips her phone shut just as Tori opens the door.

"Hey," says Tori, easing the door shut behind her. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, I promise," Vida says, nodding. She does feel a lot more settled now that she's talked to the rest of the team.

Tori smiles in relief. "Good." She sits down beside Vida and slips her hand into Vida's, threading their fingers together. She hesitates for a second, then says. "Listen, and you don't have to say yes to this, Shane's putting together a team to investigate that surge of evil. Cam's managed to pinpoint its origin to Mariner Bay." Vida's heart skips a beat. "And well, Shane wants you to come along as part of the back up."

"But you don't have any powers," blurts Vida. Then mentally kicks herself, because yeah, of course Tori knows this.

Tori smiles wryly. "Believe me, we know. It's strictly intel gathering right now. We need to know what we're dealing with. And if any of the other Ranger teams can help."

Vida nods slowly. She should be there either way. This was an evil that used magic. "Okay," she says. "But after we're done with intel, you and I need to talk."

Looking at her curiously, Tori asks, "Are you sure everything's okay?"

"Yeah," she says slowly. "It can wait until after, but it's something you should know."

"Okay," Tori says, squeezing Vida's hand. "Want me to give you a ride home?"

Vida chews her lip for a second. "Could you stay over too?" She's feeling more settled, but there's still a small part of her that's freaking out.

Tori smiles warmly and pulls Vida into a hug. "Yeah," she says softly. "I can stay over."

*

It feels like it takes Vida forever to get to sleep. She's over being caught in the spell, but there were preparations for the intel team and Sensei Shane kept going over everything again and again. Vida's sure that if Sensei Dustin hadn't fallen asleep standing up, they'd all still be there. And when she finally makes it to the dream room, it takes longer than usual to solidify.

Xander's the only one there and he's curled up in his chair, staring off into the hazy fog rolling through the dreams outside. Vida's dreams trickle in, with clumps of shuriken rolling along the rocky ground, Bo staffs and ninja swords swirling through the air, and Xander's fog gaining a deep red tinge.

"Well, that makes two of us not worried about tomorrow," she says dryly. She tugs on Xander's chair, making it grow a bit longer and sits down beside him, pressing close.

Xander smiles humourlessly. "It's in Mariner Bay, Carter and his team are heading out in the morning."

"Hey," says Vida softly. "I'm on the ninja team that's going out there too. I'll keep an eye on him, promise."

Vida sees the large boots stalking through their dreamland before she sees her sister. Maddie eyes them sitting on the elongated chair and then reaches out and pulls out the other side of Xander's chair so she can sit down.

"I won't be here long," Maddie warns. "We're working on tracking the evil energy signatures. We're sleeping in shifts."

"So what's with the boots?" asks Vida.

Maddie rubs at her face. "Commander Myers is worried. He's got Guardians on watch duty and he's pacing the camp's perimeter a lot. Wes either sits by the computers or goes out to radio the backup."

Nick appears, takes one look at them and settles in beside Maddie. "We're coming," he promises. "But we had to sleep before one of us ran off the road."

Now that he mentions it, Vida can see road stripes running through the fog.

"Mom and Dad are going to circle around," Nick continues. "There's a few cracks to the Mystic Realm in the area that are acting funny. But I'm going to try and tag along behind Madison's group."

"Wait, what's wrong with the cracks?" asks Maddie, turning to face him.

Nick hesitates for a second. "Something's draining magic out of them. We're not sure-"

"Guys!" cries Chip, then he flickers out of the room.

Vida tenses. "I have Tori with me. Who can-"

Chip reappears, but he's semitransparent. Like he's not quite asleep. "I'm... import..." He fades out completely.

"I can go," said Nick, sitting up.

Then Chip pops back into the room, looking slightly harried and bouncing on his toes a bit. "Sorry guys! This is big and it's hard to stay asleep."

"What's going on?" Nick asks.

Chip sits down on the floor in front of them. Something moves out of the corner of her eye and Vida does a double take when she checks the dreamscape. "Chip..." There are bodies everywhere. Xander and Vida's fog has risen to cover the sky and the ground is cracked and barren where it's not covered in bodies.

Maddie gasps. "Oh my god."

"We - me and Daggeron - were following up on the weird stuff from the Shadow Realm. Someone collected up pieces of the Master and is making them into weapons."

A chill runs down Vida's spine. "Okay, so we overload them with magic, like last time and-"

"That's not the worst part," says Chip, fading a bit. He pauses and closes his eyes, breathing deeply until he's solid again. "The worst part is that it's attracted others like the Master. Little ones."

"Others of his species," says Xander, paling.

Chip nods. "They were following the trail the weapons left."

"What are we going to do?" asks Maddie.

Nick hugs her close with one arm, lost in thought. "Chip," he says slowly. "Remember the other night? That story about Knah and Animus?" Chip nods. "Well, they only had a fraction of our power, right?"

"But ninety-five more warriors as back-up," Xander points out.

"Yeah," said Nick. "But they couldn't tap all the cracks between the Realms."

Maddie chews her lip, then says, "Ranger powers connect to the Mystic Force. It's still there, but it's rougher."

"I don't know," says Xander. "We might end up stuck, only even more so because we are more powerful."

"Look, Xander-"

"No, Nick," Xander says. "Chip's right. This is big. We've got, what? A year and a half as Mystic Warriors under our belts. And even if these weapons and baby Masters are headed our way, we have no guarantee that this is what we're dealing with."

Nick leans forward, but Xander holds up his hand. "I'm not done, mate. We've got three Ranger teams with more experience heading for the scene tomorrow. They might not even need us for this and if we go in as one big blob, with no more plan than that, we could do more harm than good. Especially if we have to suck their powers out to bloody do it."

"Okay, okay," Nick sighs. "I see your point."

"So why don't we make a plan?" says Vida seriously. "We won't use it unless it's a last resort, but we should have it any ways."

Xander nods reluctantly. "Okay," he says, sounding tired. He closes his eyes and a pile of books materializes in the room. "Who's going to start?"

*

Vida streaks along behind Sensei Shane. She's nervous, even with the backup plan she has. It takes work to keep herself from either shifting into actual wind or jumping into the trees to just get there and get this part over with. Sensei Shane suddenly freezes on a high tree branch, holding up his hand for the rest of the team to stop. He half turns and gestures to the only samurai on the team.

"Cam?" he says, holding up a small tech device. "Tell me I'm just imagining these readings."

Vida tenses. Samurai Watanabe had double and triple checked the readings on his machine before they left. Hell, before they'd left to get some sleep the night before. The same readings Maddie confirmed. The same readings they'd built their plan on.

Sensei Dustin leans towards her and whispers, "Uh, dude? You're kinda vibrating."

She glances at him wordlessly before focusing on Samurai Watanabe and Sensei Shane arguing quietly over the machine. She jumps a bit when Sensei Dustin pats her shoulder. "It's cool," he says, "we're totally pros at this stuff."

Vida remembers a lot of the history they'd gone over last night. Ancient scrolls and space mutant ninjas and the patchwork men being things called Kelzacks. She doesn't say it out loud, but she seriously doubts that the Ninja Storm team had faced anything like the Master.

Sensei Shane holds up his hand for attention. "Okay, the readings we had before are fake outs. They're not by the sea, they're in the forest on the other side of Mariner Bay. The plan stays the same, except we're hiding in the upper branches now. Clear?"

Vida starts cursing silently in her head. The forest is where Xander and his class were supposed to be. Sensei Shane gives the signal to get moving again and Vida has to swallow down a protest. She can't use her phone to warn the others, or toss out a spell, there's no time. She hesitates a second as the others streak off, maybe if she's fast-

"Vee?" Tori's watching her worriedly. "It'll be okay, I promise."

She forces a smile. "Yeah, sorry. Right behind you." Tori streaks off, Vida right behind her.

Vida keeps hoping the whole way that the machine is wrong, that the clearing will be completely empty. But as soon as she stops, she hears voices. She curls her hands into fists and crouches down on her branch, looking around. When she spots Xander and his classmates at the edge of the clearing, she has to close her eyes for a second, feeling dread and relief in equal parts that he's still there.

There's a crack of displaced air in the centre of the clearing. Kelzacks, Hidiacs and several of the red samurai are surrounding a larger samurai in red. Vida can't help the gasp she gives when she recognizes him. "Warmax," she whispers. Out of the corner of her eye, she can see Sensei Shane glance at her sharply. She crouches a bit closer to the tree and tries to will Xander to run, without using magic that Warmax would sense.

She knows the exact moment Xander recognizes Warmax. His shoulders tense and he ducks his head, hiding his face.

Warmax takes a swig from a bottle and lets out a rolling laugh. "Ah good, I was hoping to have witnesses for my resurrection." He draws a sword, waving it in the air. The blade is a red so deep it's nearly black. Vida can see it absorbing little bits of magic as it cuts through the air. She slowly, ever so slowly, starts easing her hand down towards her phone.

The sound of engines roar through the woods. Vida turns her head slightly to see several large SUVs rumbling up the rocky paths. They screech to a stop in unison, men in navy uniforms spilling out, being directed by two men. A smaller group of people in white coats hurry out of the SUV furthest from the clearing. Vida recognizes Maddie, who widens her eyes in shock at Warmax before ducking behind an open door and pulling out her phone.

Warmax tilts his head at the Silver Guardians. "Well, the Earth Realm certain has some curiosities, doesn't it? No matter." He puts down his bottle and unsheathes a smaller dark red blade. He's about to throw it when a laser blast knocks it from his hands.

"Hold it right there," demands a Red Ranger, levelling a blaster at Warmax. His team files out behind him. Pink, Yellow, Green, Blue and a silvery grey Ranger. Vida realizes that its Lightspeed Rescue and glances at Xander worriedly. He's pale, but he's steadily herding his classmates behind the line of Silver Guardians.

Warmax snorts in derision. "You are the most pathetic team of Mystic Rangers I've seen yet."

Vida, Maddie and Xander are the only ones who don't react in confusion to that. Vida spares a moment to be grateful that no one's looking at any of them.

Carter takes a step forward, tightening his grip on his blaster. "Drop your weapons and stand down or we will destroy you."

Warmax chuckles, taking a step forward himself. "You first."

The Lightspeed Rangers fire as one. Warmax blocks every shot with his sword easily. He throws a small bolt of energy at the Silver Guardians to Carter's left. The second Carter drops his guard, Warmax slashes him across the chest with his sword.

Carter yells in pain, falling back. There's a crackle of energy as his suit disappears and blood starts running down his chest. Vida's half standing before she knows it. The rest of Carter's team are surrounding him, but Warmax theatrically holds up a handful of dark red shuriken and whips them at the team, knocking them back several feet.

Vida watches in horror as the little shurikens suck chunks of their Ranger suits away before they manage to pull them off. Tori gasps and Vida looks back at Carter in time to see Warmax charging for him, sword raised.

"NO!" The ground rumbles and spits out thick, thorned vines. They slam into Warmax, throwing him back and wrapping around his throat. And then Xander's in front of Carter, in his Mystic Warrior uniform with his wand flipped out and looking angrier than Vida's ever seen him.

Vida pulls her phone out.

Warmax slashes his way free of the vines and stands there for a second, panting. "Mystic Warrior," he says slowly. "I remember you. You like to talk." He gives Xander a parody of a bow. When Xander doesn't react, he snorts. "Well? Are you going to say something?"

Xander clenches his jaw. Then he gives a brief nod. "Quasso," he growls, flicking his wand. The ground immediately begins to heave and buckle, knocking Warmax's companions down.

Warmax himself goes to one knee, then plunges his sword into the ground. The shaking stops completely. He pulls out another handful of shuriken. Vida's already standing and flipping open her phone. Tori makes a grab for her, but Vida's already becoming the wind. Tori's fingers slip through her and her gasp of shock sails along Vida as she moves.

Warmax flings the shuriken, but he's not as fast as the wind. Vida blasts through the clearing, picking up Kelzacks and Hidiacs and flinging them into the path of the shuriken. One of the red samurai spits a chaos spell into her, and she has a moment of panic as she loses control.

But Xander's still there and he thrusts his arm into the air, steady. Vida grabs it and anchors herself, solidifying beside him, her Mystic Warrior uniform settling around her.

Warmax snarls and charges. But Xander and Vida are already ducking for Maddie. "Palirroia," she cries, sending an arc of water through the clearing. She steps around the Guardians, smiling apologetically at one of the leaders who's staring at her shock. All three of them tense when Warmax starts laughing again.

"That's it?" he says, getting to his feet and kicking a Kelzack out of his way. "Three little children and a handful of amateurs? I am Warmax! One of the four Barbarian Beasts of Oblivion! I have been brought back from destruction itself! I have forged The Master into weapons under my control!" He laughs, low and evil. "And I alone, hold the command of the magic eaters… I am far stronger than the last time you faced me, Mystic Warriors."

Vida feels the spark of Chip rushing through the trees and hears the rumble of Nick's engine. She smirks. "So are we." Nick's engine wails as he sails into the clearing. He leaps from the bike, kicking it at Warmax. The air fills with ozone as Chip flies out of a branch, a bolt of lightning chasing him; he lands briefly on the bike before flipping off. It explodes as it and the lightning bolt hit Warmax, making him scream.

Nick rolls to his feet, his cape unfurling around him. Chip lands beside Maddie and grins at her. "Sorry we're late."

Xander snorts softly, eyes on Warmax. "Nick's a bad influence on you, mate."

Warmax lets out a roar of rage, magic blasting out of him in all directions.

As one, they shout, "Orbis!" And a wall of earth encircles the clearing, pressing back against the magic trying to get out. Nick swears softly under his breath and looks at the rest of them. "Okay, I'm sorry Xander, but we gotta go with Plan B."

Xander scrubs a hand through his hair in frustration and glances worriedly at Carter. Vida follows his gaze and is relieved to see Carter sitting up, his chest already bandaged neatly. "Look," says Xander. "Are we-"

The wall of earth explodes around them. Xander slaps his hands on the bit of wall in front of them, barely keeping it up. Vida grabs the air currents, dragging shrapnel away from the Silver Guardians and the ninjas.

"Enough of this," shouts Warmax. Then he says something too low for Vida to catch over the wind and screams. Every morpher in the clearing erupts in a shower of sparks.

"Motherfu- You'd better not have destroyed my call list, asshole!" snaps Vida.

Sensei Shane streaks into the clearing, the rest of the ninjas right behind him. "We need to get out of here, now," he says shortly. "There's a portal opening and I don't like what's coming out of it."

Vida shares a look with the rest of her team, resisting the urge to look at Tori. Nick nods once. "Warmax is bringing weapons and creatures into this world that eat morphing grid energy," she says. She gently pushes her magic out.

"But we have a way we can stop him," Maddie continues, curling her magic around Vida's.

"We won't be able to take out the rest of them," says Chip. "The ones who're waiting for him on Earth." He adds his magic to Maddie and Vida's.

"That's going to be up to you," Xander says as he adds his magic to the pile.

"In case you didn't notice," says Lightspeed Green, crossing his arms, "our morphers-"

"We can fix that," interrupts Nick. He adds his magic and things snap into place. As one, they say, "Morfay mammun." Their phones melt back into their original wand forms. "But," continues Nick, over the gasps of surprise, "we won't be in any shape to help with Warmax's allies."

The wall in front of them shudders from a blow of magic. Vida glances at it, feeling the others trickling into her mind. She tenses a bit. The other Rangers "need to get people out of here," says Chip out loud, finishing the thought.

"Yeah," says Nick to Sensei Shane. "You do. We can take care of Warmax" easily.

"Easy for you," Xander says. You're not the one who's supposed to "end it," agrees Maddie.

"We can't" go in order, says Vida. They all agree on this. Warmax would figure out their plan if they did.

"…Can't finish a sentence?" asks the Silver Guardian leader-Commander Myers.

The five of them blink in confusion for a second. "Oh," says Nick out loud carefully. "It's part of the magic." He nods to the rest of the team and as one they flick their wands to the ground. Galwit Mysto Ranger! Their suits flow over them and as one, they draw their MagiStaffs.

They're not completely connected yet, but it's close. Warmax blasts another bolt of magic at the wall and Xander-Earth-me raises his staff and says, "Kommati." The wall cracks and Vida-Air-me becomes the whirlwind that launches those fragments at Warmax and his allies. They're flung like shuriken, like arrows.

Nick-Fire-me nods and the rest of them charge into battle. Warmax spits out a stone fragment and roars. He swipes at Nick-Fire-me and their blades lock. In that half a second, the spell clicks into place and they're one - one Ranger, five bodies. They smile. Show time.

They keep the elements separate. Fire focuses on Warmax, their swords clashing violently. If they can destroy him before resorting to the final spell, all the better. Fire ducks a slash and spins, using a touch of Lightning's speed and raining rapid fire blows at Warmax.

Wind solidifies and flicks their MagiStaff into a whip. They start tossing Kelzacks-freaky dudes around. A Hidiac spits at them and they duck - right into the path of another one. They fly back, hitting the ground hard.

Blasting three of the samurai with their crossbow, Lighting rolls past Fire and Warmax, pausing to glance at that fight to get a different point of view. Warmax is reaching for a blade behind his back. Fire quickly kicks that arm.

Earth slashes their axe into three Hidiacs, cutting two of them in half. They stay near the back of the fight, keeping the strays from getting to the civilians that the other Rangers are helping escape. Water is a whirl nearby, having shifted their MagiStaff into a trident. The Kelzaks-freaky dudes are having trouble landing any blows.

Fire doesn't block in time and they cry out in pain as Warmax slashes across their chest. They quickly release the Ranger suit and Fire crumples face down, curling and clamping their arms to the bleeding wound. They only hesitate a second and then Lightning is moving in, firing bolts as they go.

They focus Air on the samurai, whipping up tornadoes and gales. One of the samurai goes for a tackle, but they have ninja training now and flick out of the way, leaving an empty Ranger suit.

Thanks to Water, they have Silver Guardian training with Bo staffs now and they focus that on the Hidiacs, wind-milling through them.

From Earth, they have no special training, but they have rage. They can see out of several peripherals that Lightspeed-Red-Carter's still hunched around his wound and it gives them power. They focus on the Kelzacks-freaky dudes and slam one through a tree trunk, snapping it in half.

Warmax ducks a kick by Lightning and sweeps their feet out from beneath them. He slams his sword into Lightning's arm and they scream. The Ranger suit on them is flickering, but they stretch their free arm, grabbing the crossbow they dropped. They whip it up and shoot Warmax point blank in the face, driving him back as the suit fades and they curl around the shattered arm.

With Air they fling the last of the samurai over to Earth and let out a scream of rage. They become a hurricane and lift Warmax into the air, tugging and pressing. He tries to spit a spell at them, but they control the air; damn it, they are the air. And they snatch the breath from his lungs and toss it away, still raging and pushing him towards a thick tree branch that's jutting out.

Warmax struggles desperately, gasping. He lets go of his sword and kicks it up. It pulls Air into solidity, cracking against their head. Warmax drops to the ground, gulping huge breaths. Air crashes into the tree trunk, their suit dissipating, and then drops to the ground.

They slash through the last two Hidiacs with Water and charge forward. They slash at Warmax - still on the ground - but he blocks quickly, shoving them back. They spin, knocking his sword up with the end of their trident and slashing at him with the blades. He staggers back, then stabs at their head. They flow down and around, slashing up with the trident.

Warmax catches it and holds tight to the blades, despite the blood that starts dripping down his arm. He tugs hard, making them stagger and then stabs their leg with his sword. They go down, the suit fading away. Four down, final spell it is. They all grin and Warmax hesitates when he sees it on Water's face.

"What..."

They bat away the samurais' swords with Earth's axe and grab the samurai, slamming them onto the ground so hard that the earth cracks and buckles. They pour all their focus, all their power into Earth and charge at Warmax, who has his back to them. They leap into the air, axe raised high.

Warmax gets it a second too late. "No!"

They slash down with the strength of Earth and the power of Lightning, gouging a deep cut in his back. Warmax howls and spins, slashing with his sword. With Water's flow and Air's intangibility, they let the sword phase right through their middle. Warmax stares in shock for a heartbeat then roars and charges at them.

They block his punch easily, arms hard like granite. Then they punch back, speed like lightning bolts, like straws through hurricanes, like avalanches. They dent his armour, crack it, pounding relentlessly, like a gale, like a wave of lava.

They drive him steadily towards the edge of the clearing. Nearly there. They spread their focus a bit, rolling Fire onto their side, tying their cape over the wound; hooking their whip around a tree branch to pull themselves upright; staggering to their feet and picking up their crossbow; stabbing their trident into the ground and using it to pull themselves up, hand over hand.

They get Warmax to the large rock at the edge of the clearing and spin, putting their backs to it. Then they drop their guard, just for a second. Warmax shouts with glee and stabs them in the stomach with his sword. As their last Ranger suit vanishes, they grin, grabbing the hilt of the sword and pulling it deeper, curling vines around it.

Warmax stares at them in shock. He tugs at the sword, but it doesn't move. He laughs in disbelief. "You can't think that this will help," he scoffs. "The longer that blade stays in, the more it will drain you of your magic. You will die, Mystic Warrior and in vain." They don't stop grinning though. They ease closer with Lightning as Warmax begins to tug on his sword again. "You cannot win. Let go!"

Through Earth, they grip the hilt of the sword and say, "You first."

They charge with Lightning. Air's not the only element that can change shape and even with one wing, they can stay in the air long enough for this. They jump and kick out, Lightning's feet reshaping into massive clawed garuda feet. They gouge deep into his chest, lifting him from the ground and tossing him away from the sword.

Then they roar to life with Fire, swirling up from the ground, slashing into Warmax's arms and legs, driving him back. They snap out the whip with Air, wrapping it around his neck and choking him. They turn the trident - still in the ground - with Water, turning the earth beneath his feet to thick mud.

They tug the sword out of their stomach and hold out a closed fist. They snap it open and a crack bursts in the ground. They drop the sword into it and clench their fist, closing the crack with a boom. They hook a foot under their axe and flick it into their waiting hand.

Warmax claws at the whip around his neck, pulling it looser and stretches a hand for the centre of the clearing. "Venturius ulmatium!"

The small portal that had been sitting there placidly through the entire battle shivers to life and starts growing. But they had been expecting this. They toss Warmax down beside the portal. They circle him and the portal.

They start with Lightning. "Nermax mysto nermax!" The power of Lightning crashes into the clearing, sparking and making the creatures in the portal cry out in pain.

Lightning crashes to Earth. "Nermax mysto nermax!" The power of Earth swells into the clearing, sucking up the bits of Master weapon laying around and grinding them down to dust and smaller.

Earth catches Fire. "Nermax mysto nermax!" The power of Fire explodes in the clearing, stripping Warmax of the last of his armour and cremating the Hidiacs, Kelzacks-freaky dudes and the samurai.

Fire moves into the Wind. "Nermax mysto nermax!" The power of Air whips through the clearing, drawing all the bits of Warmax's army and weaponry together.

Wind brings Water. "Nermax mysto nermax!" The power of Water rises into the clearing, filling the cracks and holding it all in place.

Full circle, Water carries Lightning. "Nermax mysto nermax!" The Mystic Force slams through them. It's not just from Briarwood. Nick knows all the little cracks between the Realms; Chip knows how far those Realms stretch; Xander knows their language; Maddie knows how the Mystic Force reacts; Vida knows their links to the elements.

They draw on it. All of it. Every bit of the magic they can touch and see and feel and hear and smell. They take it all and pour it into the bits of the Master, into the young, weak magic eaters, into Warmax. They fill everything to the brim and then keep filling. Until the magic eaters are past full, until it warps them, rewriting their function, until the darkness of Warmax can no longer be seen in the light.

They keep pushing, drawing everything they can, anything they can. The Mystic Force builds and builds, rolling into a tight ball of light and power and pure goodness. Then it explodes out and back into them. They grab at it, pushing it out into the Earth Realm, pushing it towards the other Rangers in the clearing.

The power roars through, rebuilding morphers, reconnecting, they see it through the power, the teams morphing, everyone staring at their morphers in awe. But it's not enough, they still have too much power. So they push further, searching for more, something else - anything - that can hold the Mystic Force.

A man in San Angeles nearly falls off his lab stool when they push power into his half-finished morphers. A hippie in Ocean Bluff starts waving excitedly at three pairs of sunglasses. A guy in a blue truck nearly runs off the road, scrambling at a key in his pocket.

It's still not enough. They push further. Strange, charred coins reforming; crystals glowing; and then the Knah Animal Warriors raise their heads and look right at them. And with nods of acknowledgement, the Warriors show them the paths of power they know of. So they go even further. They fill cellphones, and swords, and coins, and daggers. Anything that could hold the power, should hold the power, did. They even reform Zords, putting great beasts back together and breathe life and Power into them.

With a final push of power, it's over. It's enough. They slowly lower their MagiStaffs, watching them shift back into simple wands. There's a leg they can't stand on, and Water crumples to the ground, and they're seeing double and Air turns to vomit, and their arm in a mass of pain and Lightning curls it close, and their stomach is nothing but pain and Earth sits down hard, and their throat stings and Fire is pressing the cape tight against it.

"Holy shit, dudes," says Ninja Storm Yellow-Sensei Dustin. He takes a step towards Lighting to help him up.

"No!" they shout, flinging several hands out in warning. They have to pause for a second. It's hard to talk like this. They decide that the easiest thing to do it to follow the magic still rolling through them.

It's at Fire, so they use his mouth. "Don't touch us, mate. We're" it rolls to Air "not de-powered. We-" they have to pause to get their bearings. They point to Air first. "Air, Water, Lightning, Earth and Fire. If that's not your element, don't touch us."

"But," says Lightspeed Pink-Dana. "You're hur- Don't do that!" She's looking at Earth in horror.

They've started packing earth into the stomach wound. "Our elements can't hurt us," they say through Water. They concentrate on healing for a few minutes, ignoring the discussion between the other Rangers. They pour water on the broken leg, set fire to the cape on the throat wound, press more earth into the stomach wound, bring a small wind storm around the concussion, then they lift their broken arm into the air for the lightning bolt to strike it. Several of the Rangers yelp in surprise at that.

Ninja Storm Red-Sensei Shane takes a careful step forward. It's then that they notice that the clearing is empty save for the other Ranger teams. "We're going to take you back to the-" he pauses to glance at the Lightspeed Rangers. "Aquabase?" Lightspeed Red-Carter nods. "While we handle the rest of this."

They nod. "We have some magical contacts," they say through Earth, then it rolls through Fire, "that can help you with tracking," Air now, "Warmax's mates."

Ninja Storm Blue-Tori wrinkles her nose in confusion. "Why do you have an accent?" she asks, looking at Air.

They wave a hand with Water and move the accent-it's normal you all have accents along to Water. "We're a bit" the magic rolls to Lightning "jumbled. It'll go away."

Lightspeed Yellow-Kelsey raises her hand and then points to Earth. "If it helps, it's your accent," she says.

It does, and they shift it along, anchoring it in place in Earth... Xander. The Ninja Storm Rangers cautiously step closer to them. "We don't have a fire element," says Ninja Storm Red-Sensei Shane as he stops near Air... Vida. They point through Lightning-Chip at Green Samurai Ranger-Samurai Cam. "Yeah, you do," they say through Fire-Nick.

Ninja Storm Yellow-Sensei Dustin touches them first, gripping Earth-Xander's arm to help them up. His eyes widen in surprise and freezes. "Dude..." They can feel it too, the deep connection to the earth that resonates through them and him, his element, pure and raw. The other Ninja Storm Rangers make contact with them, all sensing the connection, Ninja Storm Blue-Tori gasps.

But they're safe now and the others will take care of the rest of it. Their bodies are healing and it's over for now. They close their eyes and head for the dream room to sort themselves out.

*

The dream room is chaotic and hazy and no one's sure what goes where. Well, besides Xander's accent. Or everyone else's accents, depending on the dominant thoughts they're thinking.

A small speck of light catches their attention. It starts to grow and take shape. When the glow fades, it leaves the Mystic Mother in its place. She smiles at them gently. "Thank you," she says. She sighs and sits down on the chair that flickers into existence for her.

They're not sure what to say to her. Their through processes are slowly individualizing, but it's not complete so they're torn. They want to know why she's here and why she's thanking them and if she can help and-

Mystic Mother holds up a hand to get their attention. "When I was turned evil and began my war on the Earth Realm, as you call it, there was a warrior who made it his personal mission to stop me no matter the cost to himself. There were several times that I would have drained our Realm dry of magic to conquer his. It was his interference that prevented this every time.

"Zordon of Eltar saved our Realm countless times. He even learned to draw from the Mystic Force itself to balance the bad magic with the good." She smiles sadly. "I wasn't able to repay him in his lifetime. But, with your spell, we were able to make sure that his legacy will never be forgotten," she says with a small huff of laughter. "After all the times he's saved my people, it's about time we were able to save his."

She sits up straighter, nodding firmly. "Now, because it's my fault that you drew in so much power, it's for me to help you sort yourselves out." She waves her hand at them and they start glowing - strands of green, blue, pink, yellow and red. "The colours are your individual selves." Mystic Mother grins as she rolls up her sleeves. "Now, let's get to work."

*

Vida wakes up in a room she doesn't recognize. It's got a hospital feel to it though, and she can feel the rest of the team is nearby and also waking up. She looks around blearily, still feeling a bit blurred around the edges. Tori's sitting beside the bed, sleeping sitting up.

She reaches out and brushes a shaky hand against Tori's arm. Tori wakes with a jolt, blinking for a second before smiling gently at Vida and leaning close. "Hey," she whispers. "Are you... you again?"

Nodding, Vida struggles to sit up a bit. Tori shifts the pillows to prop her up. "Yeah," says Vida. "Mostly."

Tori pauses and raises an eyebrow at her. "Mostly?"

Vida shrugs. "I'm on a team with my sister and my best friend who I've known since kindergarten. We share a lot of memories and it gets a bit fuzzy sometimes, to figure what goes where."

"I thought your White Ranger, Udonna, said it was four of you who were friends for a long time and just your Red was new?"

"Well, yeah," says Vida, grinning a bit. "We've known Xander for a long time, but his memories are easy. If he's got an accent, it's one of ours, if everyone else does, it's one of his."

Tori chuckles and takes Vida's hand into hers, lacing their fingers together. Vida stares down at their joined hands in surprise. "We got the bad guys," Tori says before she can say anything herself. "And pretty much every test being done on the morphers is saying that our powers are back for good."

Vida nods.

"Oh," says Tori, acting like she just remembered something. "Some of the old Ranger teams have been calling." She gives Vida an arch look. "Apparently, old powers are back all over the galaxy."

"Yeah," says Vida slowly. "That's going to take some explaining."

"Like you being a Power Ranger too?" Tori asks.

Vida feels her face heat up a bit. "We wanted to tell you-"

"But it's not just your secret, right?" finished Tori, smiling softly and squeezing Vida's hand. "Hey." She leans close to catch Vida's gaze. "I get it. Ninja, remember? And you're not exactly the first team to have secret identities."

Smiling softly, Vida asks, "So, now what?"

"Now? You get some more sleep and then you guys can explain how you managed to re-power pretty much every Ranger in the galaxy. And then…" Tori pretends to think about it. "Well, I was thinking we could watch movies at my place. Just you and me, and I'll nurse you back to health."

Vida giggles. "I like this idea," she says, snuggling back into the bed. She doesn't let go of Tori's hand though. "I'll see you when I wake up?"

"I'll be here," says Tori. She leans down and kisses Vida warmly.

End.


End file.
